October 18
Psalm 37:23-40

there’s no right or wrong answer

For one of my favorite Youth Ministry activities, I provide paper, markers, and a heaping dose of “there’s no right or wrong answer” and ask young people to illustrate God. When you pray, who is listening? What reminds you most closely of God? Many people draw kind faces, others choose dogs, and some illustrate abstract shapes. Each representation is unique, even if participants do the activity twice.

Over the years I’ve noticed that not many people draw God as a child. If illustrations take a human form, they are often older adults, grandparent figures, or Morgan Freeman, specifically. Yet verses like Psalm 37:24 bring a younger image of God to mind for me: “Though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong, for the Lord holds us by the hand.”

I imagine my young nieces taking my hand before crossing the street. I think of the Camp Akita campers who hold hands to pray. I remember reaching for my sister’s hand when we watched spooky movies as kids. Hand holding is silent and sometimes sweaty and almost always sacred. It means, “I’m here. Are you?” It can get lost as we grow older, but it is never lost to God.