You entered the retreat house as a skeptic, yet by the end, you didn't want to leave.
Day by day, you were transformed - personally and spiritually. You never knew what was coming next but "participating, not anticipating" is what made your experience such a success.
You laughed and cried and became apart of a family that included those that you barely even knew. Your walls came down and you offered a shoulder for your peers who needed it.
If you're religious, you felt God's presence in every aspect of the retreat. He was there; he was present.
And even if you aren't religious, you felt something. You felt that powerful force that was working the entire time and you can't imagine Kairos without it.
By the end, you wanted to rewind and start it all over again, and it's natural to want so. You were told to take everything you learned over the last couple of days and put it into action in your communities, and in the moment you were so ready to do so. You didn't understand how you couldn't, this retreat had changed you.
Yet when you got back from your little "heaven on earth" and turned on the news, the reporters were freaking out over a recent terrorist attack.
And when you entered school on Monday, you realized the phenomenon that is drama didn't suddenly disappear from the face of the earth.
And a week later, you find yourself in a fight with your mom and you begin to think "Kairos was just a phase."
"The Kai-High has worn off."
You begin to write off Kairos, thinking that it's only good for a quick getaway from school and reality. But the most upsetting realization that comes to your attention is that "Living the Fourth" is not easy.
And it's true, it's far from easy.
People will test you, things will go wrong, stress will once again build up. You'll fail a few tests, your friends will make you mad, and the weight of the world that you thought was taken off your shoulders during the retreat will return.
But "living the fourth" is how you handle a given situation. It isn't about being the reincarnation of Mother Theresa or acting like a clone of Pope Francis — that isn't who you are. Remember who you are, and act accordingly.
The trouble that comes from "living the fourth" doesn't mean God has come and gone like Kairos was some sort of family reunion, but rather can be overshadowed by negativity the "real world" throws at us. It's your job to remember the friendship you have with God and to recall or contemplate on what His mission is for you.
That immediate feeling you get after you complete your Kairos retreat — the rainbows and sunshine, "la di da" attitude — will wear off. But to "Live the Fourth" is to take what you learned from Kairos and put it into practice even when blue skies turn to gray. You'll fail at times, just as everybody else does. You'll tell someone off, you'll make preconceived judgements — it happens. But learning to minimize those reactions and to make it a habit to react differently is exactly what is needed.
It's not always an easy task, but just as God put you on Kairos for a reason, He's simultaneously asking you to Live the Fourth for a reason.
