The Perfect Retreat

What makes a perfect retreat?

The particular group that came this weekend loves outdoor winter activities, and the weather was very accommodating. A light fluffy snow fell all weekend long, covering every surface with a sparkling white blanket. The tubing hill was noisy with shouts of adults and children alike riding oversized inner tubes. The toboggan hill and the sky glide provided fun for those more adventurous. At the other end of the camp ground, the lake was frozen solid and availed itself for activities like skating and ice fishing by enthusiastic "polar bears." One enterprising young boy caught a fish and cooked two inch-long filets over the fire at the tubing hill.

Everyone that visits camp, enjoys the opportunity to relax and enjoy time with family and friends. In the fireside room, folks sat by the fireplace or played ping-pong and pool and enjoyed quite a bit of coffee. Kids chased each other up and down the hallways and through the dining room. Meals were enjoyed as families with parents and children interacting with ease.

Services were meaningful with good messages to encourage Christians in their walk with the Lord, and serious attention was given to God's word.

Yes, the snow did make some travel treacherous, the chapel did overheat once, one batch of meatballs did cook a bit too long, but no one seemed to mind much. The air of fellowship, fun, and rest was a blessing to everyone, and the beauty of nature refreshed minds and bodies. Yes, it was a perfect retreat!

It's (not) All Up to Me

Teachers, parents, and whoever you are responsible for the development of other people: Do you ever watch the up and down progress of your charges and wonder if you’re messing up, ruining them? It’s such a big responsibility to oversee the growth of a person. My influence on a person affects the next stage of their life and the next.

As a teacher, I know I am responsible for my students’ care. I know that what I do can determine how they advance. I know that it requires much more than I can give, and that as a human I am prone to inability, to weakness, and to failure. Sometimes I think of King Solomon and pray what he prayed.  

O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in…give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? (I Kings 3:7, 9)

In other words: You gave me this job. It's beyond my ability. Please supernaturally enable me to do it.

Today’s Schedule of Responsibility: 

1. Identify the required activities for my position today.
2. Decide which I can do and which I know I can’t. 
3. Pray begging God to intervene in the ones I can't do.

He is now responsible for the results. And that’s a pretty safe place to leave it!

When Snow Falls

There is no element of nature so lovely and familiar to me as snow. To watch soft, white flakes drift quietly down in great clouds, to feel the rubbery impact underfoot, to almost hear the nothingness that accompanies the silent accumulation is like a tangible dream. It covers the familiar with a glittering white veil.

When I was young, snow was the inspiration for my poetry. It was diamonds sparkling along the road. It was a tiny celebration of Christmas. It was freedom from routine. It was lovely. Day or night, snow was a thing to be admired. It had no flaws.

If only I would see Christ with the same constant awe that I had for snow as a child--all beauty and fascination and wonder. But for Christ I have alternatives, things that receive my attention before Him, decisions made apart from Him, solutions disregarding Him.

Christ's disciples once asked Him what kind of person He considered great in His kingdom, and to answer...

Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  (Matthew 19:2-4)

To truly love Him, to trust Him, to obey Him, I should love Him as a little child loves, seeing no flaws, no other help, no other interest. Of Christ, those things are all true. How am I seeing?

Pampered Chefs

My friend Rachel and I were on our way to a Pampered Chef party tonight when we both looked at each other and asked, "The party IS at their house right?" We decided if we didn't find the right place...we would go to Culver's. There's nothing more pampered than eating out, right?

We made it to the party after all, wrote our Christmas wishlists from the catalogs and acted out animal charades. Later we enjoyed Melinda's flambeed s'more cake, apples with caramel dip, and Christmas tree brownies. Oh yeah, there were carrots and celery there, too. We went home with nothing more than a few treats for our "friends who weren't able to come." *wink wink*

Maybe next time we'll plan to pamper ourselves with products.

The Reset Button

This morning I arrived at school to no internet. Those first moments had me scrambling to figure out what to do without the resources I need. It happened to be a simple fix of turning the wireless off and on again. Thank goodness!

My students came in with a not-so-easily-resolved problem—half of them woke up on the wrong side of the bed and the other half on the right side! (When 7^th graders wake up on the right side of the bed they act all goofy.)

When smoke started coming out of ears (mine included), I resorted to something a former teacher used to do—two laps around the parking lot! Fresh cold air, competition, exercise—Thank goodness, people come with reset buttons too.

When I can’t go forward until I’m reset, the best way to reset myself is by calling out to God. How wonderful to experience His ability when I had none!

While “every new duty calls for more grace than I possess, it’s not more than is found in Him.” Valley of Vision

Where Better to Begin

Where does one start a blog? I suppose it's appropriate to start right in the middle of what I do every week.
1. Teaching 5th-8th grade students that know each other and the school building way too well
2. Supervising the food part of a church fellowship
3. Making a winter promotional video at Camp Joy
4. Cleaning up after dinner during a retreat

Fortunately, this weekend I don't have to do soundbooth for the service. I say fortunately because the service that usually starts at 6:00 or 7:00 started at 9:00 tonight. Instead I spent another hour after dinner working on the winter promo video and then headed home to a couple of hours of schoolwork. This weekend I have to finish entering grades for report cards which go out on Monday in addition to the lesson plans I have to prepare for next week.

Never a dull moment!