We continue our tradition of inviting youth writers to contribute most of our summer newsletter articles. This week’s article is by Noelle Lee, a Highrock MetroWest summer youth intern. 

A few weeks ago, I attended the Highrock Summer Internship Retreat, a weekend getaway for high school interns full of activities, connection, reflection, and time with God. A common thread that runs throughout the retreat every year is how we can improve our inner spiritual framework to fully understand and experience our personal relationship with God. In this retreat, we looked at the Nine Sacred Pathways—the nine distinct ways people most naturally connect with God, which are through contemplation, nature, service, ritual, learning, activism, solitude, simplicity, or beauty.

The pathways were introduced to us with a personal quiz. We were asked to rank, on a scale of one to five, how deeply we resonated with various statements about our faith. As examples, two of these statements were “I feel closest to God when I’m surrounded by nature” or “I would enjoy using drawing, exercise, or art to improve my prayer life.” Our rankings determined our strongest pathways of connecting to God personally.

Upon completing the test, I was determined to be a “sensate,” one who experiences God through beauty and through the senses. This means I feel most connected to God when my spiritual life involves art, music, symbols, colors, and physical surroundings. As a guitar player, musicophile, and artist, this pathway immediately resonated with me. We were given time to reflect both with others who shared our spiritual pathway and individually with God, exploring new or familiar practices that aligned with how we most naturally connect with Him.

One of the ways I most clearly observed my Sacred Pathway present outside of the Summer Intern Retreat was during my time at Summer Blast. Here, I helped out with the Crafts station, which included brainstorming, prepping fun art activities, and watching the campers creatively engage with the crafts. Specifically, I led the prayer lantern craft where campers decorated their lanterns with tissue paper and Mod Podge [water-based sealer], wrote or drew prayers, and topped it off with a small candle for light.

I started out making a few example lanterns on my own. The calming and tactile practice of arranging an assortment of colored tissue paper on my lantern, along with the act of handwriting my prayers to place inside, allowed me to creatively engage with my spirituality. The campers enthusiastically decorated their lanterns with precision and care, which elevated the shared energy at the station. As a sensate, this kind of joint hands-on activity felt almost like a form of communal spirituality and praise.

In addition to my natural connection with God through craft-making, something new for me during Summer Blast was my enthusiasm for worship through praise. Though I’ve been surrounded by worship songs all my life, it has never been my favorite form of praising. This may come from the fact that I am more introverted, so dancing and singing in public are not my most enjoyable activities. Regardless, seeing all the kids at Summer Blast excitedly belt out the words to every song, while passionately imitating the motions up on stage, seems to have revived the joy I had once for worship as a little kid. Hearing songs that I first experienced as a Summer Blast camper to the latest rap tunes, the collective excitement from every kid and leader during worship was unforgettable and invigorating.

Although I always somewhat understood my natural tendency to connect sensorily with what’s physically around me—whether that’s music, buildings, or nature—actively seeking ways to implement my spiritual pathway in all facets of my life has been a new concept for me. I am lucky that Summer Blast provided me with experiences that directly aligned with my pathway as a sensate. Now, in the moments when I’m listening to music or learning a new song, creating or observing art, or stepping foot into a grand building or natural landmark, I will be reminded to tap into my sacred pathway and recognize the ways He creates physical beauty, remembering to pause and experience His greatness in the moment.  And maybe, inspired by the young summer blasters, I’ll even feel moved to break out in a song and dance if the mood strikes.