Since I work for a camp, I often
get the following
feedback (something like): “I’m not comfortable that youth come
back from camp
with a camp high and then get hit with reality and over time that
high goes
away.” After pondering this for awhile I have come to the
conclusion that for
me, the camp high was not a bad thing as a youth and is something
I revisit as
an adult.
I was raised with a single mom
and went to
camp twice a year (or more) from the time I was in 4th
grade clear
until I was 21. I grew up in Southern California and attended
Green Oaks Ranch
in Vista, Forest Home in Forest Falls and Hume Lake. I love camp!
I love the
experience of getting away from day-to-day life to grow
spiritually, play in
creation and escape real life worries.
Since I was a kid from a broken
home, I did
have a lot of worries. But whether it is a broken home, absent
parents, family
stresses, school pressures, or friend problems, we all have
worries and burdens
from which we function. It was these times when I could get away
from it all
and focus more on the Lord that taught me the most about how I
didn’t have to
just exist through life. There is a better plan. A week (or a
weekend) away
helped me to refocus, move closer to God, gain some clarity and
reprioritize my
life. What an amazing gift camp was for an awkward girl from
SoCal”
Ok, so after a week (or weekend)
of life
changing fun and growth in the beautiful outdoors, we all get on
our buses and
head home. I am pumped! Man is life going to be different. I have
it all
figured out now! I am going to live differently. I am going to
live for my Lord
100% - like I never have before. Well, a day or two goes by and
I’m still doing
pretty well, still feeling pretty plugged into my “new life”. But
then comes a
couple of crazy tests at school that didn’t go as planned, my mom
is unhappy
because I forgot to take the trash out, then my boss gets upset
that I was
talking instead of cleaning the trays and my friends just don’t
understand the
changes I have made. I start slipping back into my old ways.
Or have I?
Well, yes and no. Yes, I made a
lot of
commitments in my mountain top experience. Yes, I do feel as
though the work
Jesus did on the cross is enough. He loves me, no matter. That is
what the Bible
says. But no, maybe my expectations for what that looks like are
bigger then
what He is asking me to do at one time. I need to remember I am in
process. I
need to remember to spend time with Him, to worship Him through my
daily tasks
and be the best person I can be to glorify Him.
Forward twenty plus years and
what does that
camp high experience look for a mom in her forties with five
children? My daily
struggles are different but what the camp experience taught me is
that when I
feel drained, disconnected from my Lord, or overwhelmed with life,
I need to
unplug. Sometimes unplugging looks like just getting away
somewhere peaceful
for an hour to seek God, going out with my friends to play and
pray, or go to a
women’s retreat (which is just a youth camp on estrogen). Whatever
it looks
like for me to recharge, the thing I learned as a youth from my
camp high is
when I have these feelings, there is a way to reengage. I don’t
have to go to
camp I can initiate it from where ever I may be. The camp high now
becomes a
strategy for my life!
