Come to Your Senses

This past week I was directing a session of Sooner Youth Camp located in Lake Murray State Park near Ardmore, Oklahoma. The facility is a group camp built back in the 1930’s by the CCC and WPA. All the structures on the property with the exception of the new bath house were built with resources found on the property. We are talking log cabins with rock peers and rock fireplaces. To say that it is rustic is an understatement. When it was new it was rustic. Now it is old and rustic, but for over sixty years it is the place Sooner Youth Camp has called home.

One of the reasons I enjoy going there year after year is the opportunity to get away from the city along with its hustle and bustle to enjoy taking in just a small part of what God has created for me to enjoy. Each morning at camp I wake up a little bit earlier than the campers and stagger over to the mess hall to be greeted by the cheerful voices of our wonderful cooks (there is a special place in heaven for those who have cooked at camp) and the wonderful smell of coffee and bacon. The only thing better is the smell on Tuesday and Thursday mornings which includes the smell of homemade cinnamon rolls. YUM!

There are other less fatting things to enjoy about camp. The refreshing coolness of swimming in Lake Murray, the sounds of crickets and other critters in the evenings, the morning sunrise and of course the sunsets at the end of a long day. I also enjoy seeing the multi-hand work of a spider that spins a web in the evening and by sunrise has taken it down. I enjoy seeing the rabbits, armadillos, raccoons, road runners and wild geese. Oh, and I enjoy seeing young men and women who are growing in the glory and likeness of the Father. I enjoy the opportunity to serve God by serving young people during a week of camp. It is hard exhausting work, but well worth the effort.

So as you begin this work week let me encourage you to “come to your senses” and enjoy what God has put around you this week. You will have opportunity after opportunity to interact with someone God created. They may already be Christ followers or they may be someone who is searching for meaning to their life. Seek them out and make a difference in their life. You may come across someone who needs a handing hand or a word of encouragement. Take the time to enjoy the opportunity to serve God and others and make a difference in the life of another person.

By living beyond yourself you will find the joy and beauty that God intended for you. It is only when you live within your self that you miss out on what God has created and planned for you to enjoy. So keep you eyes and ears open and discover the joy God has prepared for you this day. It may be a beautiful sunset, but it may be a lonely soul in desperate need of an ear and a shoulder. Praise God! You have two of each.

St. Francis of Assisi said it this way, “It is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned. And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Make me an instrument of Your peace, I want to know what it’s like to follow You. When men look at me, I want them to see, the Light of the World inside.”

Love God. Go Love Others.