Lessons

Every camp summer tends to focus on a theme for me.  Not necessarily the one that I expect it to be when the summer begins.  By the end, I can see how God has been weaving a thread through my life.  

For instance, I have had incredibly hard, heart wrenching summers that have taught me lessons like forgiveness.  Those are always hard summers to live through, but beautiful ones as well because I learn so much and and see God break me and destroy me only to gently put me back together again.  Those summers are life changing.  Those summers send me life lessons that I can't forget and wouldn't have learned any other way.  

"Come, let us return to the Lord;

for he has torn us, that he may heal us;

he has struck us down, and he will bind us up."

Hosea 6:1

Then there are joyful, happy, wonderful summers.  The Lord teaches me joy and peace and love.  I look back over those summers and can do nothing but be thankful for the wonder that is the joy of His presence.  There are lots of happy memories of those particular summers.  Usually it involves a few people that have become near and dear to my soul.  I would re-live those summers in a heartbeat.  

"And I will betroth you to me forever.

I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, 

in steadfast love and in mercy.

I will betroth you to me in faithfulness.

And you shall know the Lord."

Hosea 2:19-20

I have summers where I am too focused on myself.  All I can see around me are my needs, my hurts, my problems.  Everyone else is revolving around me.  Everything and everyone fits into a place that either hurts or helps me.  Dangerous summers, those ones.  I end up at the end of the summer not learning anything because all I care about is myself.  It's so easy to do. It's much easier to care about what effects you then to worry about how you are serving others. I almost always find that at the end of summers like these, I am melancholy and discouraged. It's basically a wasted summer. 

I have such an opportunity here to learn and grow. It is completely up to me how I choose to spend my days. No matter the circumstances, my heart needs to be in the right place to hear the Lord and be open to His leading. And this is true of any time/place/experience in life. It just seems a little more intense here at camp. And maybe that's why I love it so much. I fear being complacent and lazy and staying where I am in my relationship with Jesus. Camp is a perfect place to be challenged. 

This summer's lesson is still to be determined. 3 weeks left to go. Lots can happen in 3 weeks...