Further Up and Further In

"You were meant to be here and what you do this summer will be enough." My unit leader gave this encouragement to my unit as we began our summer of camp counseling. I had a gut reaction of "that's not true" to the second half of the statement. I knew the first part was true. I had felt a peace about applying to SLS and believed that He had brought me to HoneyRock for this particular summer. His reasons being His own but I had no doubt as to where I was supposed to be. But I realized, sitting on a bench at Black Bear campsite, that I never believed that what I did was enough. I thought in my gap years and since being in college that I had loosened up on my perfectionistic tendencies. I knew I still possessed them but I thought they weren't as strong as they used to be. I gauged this by the fact that I didn't go crazy if every project or task that I completed wasn't done "just right". I knew that I wasn't going to do things perfect

The ever-present digital clock in the lobby winks at a boy and a girl as the minutes flip by. Standing there discussing conflict styles, family backgrounds, stories from the past, social justice and who knows what more. Just two students on a Christian liberal arts college campus talking about life and sharing story on a Thursday night. Few of the passing students give them a second glance as they stand in front of the lobby doors. Eventually, the girl asks, "Why? Why should I care? What difference does it make?" Frustration and questions bubble from her lips. She doesn't think that it isn't important to try to make wrongs right but wonders at her apathy towards working for justice in the world. She doesn't feel strongly about it and is often ashamed that she does not care much about this or that prevalent social issue in today's global society. "I am just one person and this issue will not likely be solved in my lifetime nor perhaps in many to come. What

I've just embarked on my junior year so even though I have a year and a half of college to go I think I can still safely stand by my post title. The class I'm referring to is entitled, "The Neurobiology of Stress".  You may be laughing already and that's totally okay. It is an upper level biology class that I am taking to satisfy part of my science gen-ed requirement. The subject material is fascinating though I admit to being a little lost in the details of how the systems work since it's been 5 to 6 years since I took biology in high school. But the irony of my current state of life and the subject material of this class is too much for me. In most situations, you can choose to laugh or cry and I usually prefer to laugh as seen through all of the pictures I have chosen for this post. Nobody told me how stressful junior year would be. And maybe it isn't actually, it's just mine in particular. But I've been at a fairly high stress level since

Finally, the classic after-you've-been-a-camp-counselor blog post. This list was compiled by myself and my wonderful SLS friends from this summer. I tried to whittle it down to the best and most hilarious. May you chuckle over it and resonate with it, especially if you have ever been a camp counselor. Paint fight you are clean for about 2.5 seconds after getting out of the shower your feet are never clean. Never. having a paint war sounds like the best idea in the world you count jumping in the lake as a close second to actually taking a shower getting up at 6:45am is "sleeping in" you are constantly counting your campers but can never come up with the number you are supposed to have (this was me all summer, not kidding) you have camp songs stuck in your head ALL the time you realize that you outpace your campers in about 5 steps you wear the same 5 outfits for 2 weeks straight you repeat yourself over and over again because there is always one kid who isn&

The fire flickers on Inspiration Point as I stand with my fellow Sierra Sisters facing a semi-circle of our SLS community. We listen to our unit leader, Christina, affirm and challenge us with what she has seen in each of us this summer. We each receive names as part of this closing ceremony. My name is Moonlight, given to me because I reflect the Lord's truth not in a flashy, bright way like sunlight but in a deeper way like moonlight. It fits me so well. Thanks, Christina. You saw me truly and named me aptly. My beloved unit of Sierra Sisters Names have power. We do not take the power of names as seriously in the 21 st century as in olden times when people were very particular about what they named their child. If you were the III or IV, it indicated a great family lineage. If you were named after a saint, it was hoped that you would embody the characteristics of that special saint. Now we call people whatever we feel like. Sometimes with a namesake in min

"I just want to be a sheep. Baa baa baa baa. I just want to be a sheep. Baa baa baa baa. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. I just want to be a sheep. Baa baa baa baa." One of my co-counselors and I after the paint war This is one of our morning Zacco songs that we sing before breakfast and it continually gets stuck in my head. Being a sheep means being led. This is pretty much the definition of my campers. They are the sheep and my co-counselor and I are their shepherds. We are the ones leading them to quiet waters during their Morning Watch time when they get to spend time with God. We are the ones leading them to green pastures where they can eat and be filled, 3 times a day, all while making sure that everyone gets food before we empty the dish. We are the ones who are giving them spaces to rest and reflect on the events going on around them. The sheep are completely dependent on the shepherds and are in great need of their care. The shepherds, my co and I, in thi

"99 bottles of pop on the wall. 99 bottles of pop. Take one down, pass it around. 98 bottles of pop on the wall. Etc. etc. etc." "We get to have HOBO DINNER for dinner tonight!" "I've never been so thankful for Port-A-Potties." "The water tastes like iron." "I don't care, it's so good." "Campers will think that you're so tough because you can kill ticks with your bare hands." "So... how long of a detour did we take?" "Pine is  my favorite kind of toilet paper." All of the Res Camp staff women Just a few lovely quotes from our 4 day/3 night wilderness trip we went on this past week. On Monday afternoon, 1 unit leader and her 8 ducklings aka us SLSers, set out into the Northwoods wilderness. We canoed for the first half of the trip then switched gear with another group and hiked the rest of the time. We stayed in 3 different camp sites which was fun since we will be leading campers

My Trans Ed class "I've heard it said / That people come into our lives / For a reason / Bringing something that we must learn. And we are led to those / Who help us most to grow if we let them. / And we help them in return. It well may be / That we will never meet again / In this lifetime. So, let me say before we part / So much of me / Is made of what I learned from you. You'll be with me / Like a handprint on my heart. And now whatever way our stories end / I know you have rewritten mine / By being my friend. Because I knew you / I know I have been changed / For good."  - For Good, Wicked the musical My RA, mentor and friend Graduation at Wheaton is this weekend and it is bittersweet. I have to say goodbye to one of my dearest friends at college and will miss her terribly. Yet I know that it is right. It is time for her to move on. This chapter of her life is ended and another one is unfolding. I have friends who are studying abroad next year who

We all know that Easter is the most important holiday for Christians. It is the resurrection of our Lord and without it, our faith means nothing and is futile as Paul says in 1 Corinthians. Like Christmas, we ought to celebrate it all year round because it is such a beautiful and powerful thing but we have specific days set aside because we need help remembering. This year, I got to be a part of the Church of the Resurrection's (known as "Church of the Rez" or just "Rez") Holy Week which was incredible. They did 13 services in a week and I even got to be part of the Palm Sunday one, see picture below.  It's an Anglican church which is very different from my Plymouth Brethren-rooted, non denominational background that I grew up but has been a great experience. I did not attend Rez during my freshman year but started this year as a sophomore. So this past year, I have been a co-shepherd (Sunday School teacher) for the 3rd grade class and have had the delight o

I am Martha, hands down. She is one of the characters who is easy to type-cast into modern day life. Jesus gently rebukes Martha in Luke 10:41-42 but it could easily be me. "Francesca, Francesca, you are anxious and troubled about many things but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her." The rebuke is meant for me as much as it was for Martha. This past quad, I've been in Art Survey 101 and was asked to choose an image, preferably with religious connotations/meaning, for my image interaction journal that would take me the whole quad to complete. I chose Tintoretto's image ' Christ in the House of Martha and Mary '. Not exactly how I would chosen to have painted the story, if I could paint fit to be seen, but I appreciated the meaning behind the painting. I knew in my heart that I was and have always been Martha-oriented. That's my personality and how I am driven. I have a type-A personality. I work h

Once upon a time... there was a gardener who planted a little seed in the rich, fertile soil of Portland, Oregon. The gardener gave the seed plenty of water, sunlight and nutrition. He nurtured it for a long time, in hopes that one day it would grow and sprout. After nearly 12 years, the seed did sprout, coming out of the darkness into the light. However, soon after the seed had sprouted, the gardener transplanted the now-sprout across the country to the thinner, rockier soil of Deering, New Hampshire. This little plant had to decide if it wanted to grow. The soil was different. The water tasted weird. The sunlight didn't feel the same. And the plant didn't get the same nourishment that it was used to. But... the gardener hadn't left the plant. In fact, the gardener was still faithfully tending the plant, encouraging it to grow in this new environment. It took the plant a little while but it eventually started to put down roots. It began to stretch up towards the sunligh