Once per month, on a Thursday morning, my mother-in-law drives to the Northbrook area to have lunch with up to 14 of her closest friends. Yup, FOURTEEN. She’s been doing this for as long as I can remember, and I have always been intrigued by the cohesiveness of this group. I can barely get away for a date with my own husband, let alone gather with 14 of my friends!

Recently, I asked her why she thought this group of friends had remained so close, despite the fact that they don’t live particularly near to each other or even attend many social events together. I assumed the answer was because they had shared each others’ hardships and encouraged each other. That certainly is true; members of this group have faced the death of their parents, husbands, and even children and some have had health and financial problems, too. But she said she thought a good bit of why they were still gathering and enjoying each others’ company is because they did silly, fun things together! There seems to be something that bonds us together when we share in fun times.

Would you consider sharing some fun times with your brothers and sisters in Christ? Would you set aside a weekend to just relax, get to know others better, and maybe even be a little silly? If so, we’d like to invite you to the first annual LCC family retreat weekend, August 6-8. It’s about a 75-minute drive from church into Wisconsin at a Salvation Army camp. We’ll have all the de-tails available soon, but prices are very reasonable and include both cabin and tent sleeping options.

Another way to really have a great time being silly while also growing in your faith is to attend camp! We have two fantastic camps in our conference (Covenant Harbor in Lake Geneva, Wis., and Covenant Point in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan), and there’s an early bird discount if your registration is completed by March 15.

Some of my favorite childhood memories and definitely the highlight of my summer was camp (Portage Lake Covenant Bible Camp in Michigan.) My best friend and I still laugh about funny things that happened there, and I sing many of the silly songs I learned during those years to my kids now. I also saw a very good model of how real faith transforms lives. So consider sending your kids (or yourself) to camp! Rebates and scholarships are available and we encourage you to use them because the spiritual growth of any part of our church body benefits us all.

So make space for some silliness in your life as we press on in our faith journey together, and remember: "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." – Proverbs 17:22