I Will Celebrate Before the Lord
As I started my first day at Sonshine Day Camp, I had preconceived notions of what a summer camp would be like. I had an idea of how the campers would act, what issues would arise, and most importantly, I thought I had nothing to learn. As someone who grew up in a church, I considered the camp as an opportunity for me to teach campers about God, but in reality, I would be the one learning more about my faith and being challenged by God.
During the first week of camp, I had noticed that the older kids were not standing during worship, participating in activities that they found boring, and overall not acting like role models for the younger kids. To combat this issue, I had decided that the next small group time after the Bible lesson would be dedicated to lecturing them about two things. The first was their role in camp as role models. The second was telling them that everything they do should be done as worship to God.
The older children had gotten better for about two days before they went back to their old habits of sitting during worship and ignoring instructions. So at this point I was asking myself, “Why won't they listen to me?”, “Are they misbehaving on purpose?” and “I literally just talked to them about that”. It became a cycle of them misbehaving, correcting them about their behavior, and finally questioning my sanity. This cycle of questioning continued until my intern evaluation meeting, when Karen, my supervisor, said that I had to complain less and be more energetic or excited to be with the kids, especially in the afternoon, once my energy crashes. She said one phrase that stuck with me, "Remember everything is worship,” as if she was there when I said the same thing to the campers during their first lecture.
After this, everything had clicked as I realized that God had been constantly saying that same thing to me. He was saying it to me through every devotional that had the theme of finding strength in him and always rejoicing in him. I had been ignoring and forgetting about what he was telling me the same way that the older kids had been disregarding what I was saying.
As I taught children to glorify God, I came to realize that my own pride had been getting in the way of truly glorifying Him. I thought I had nothing left to learn, but the camp taught me not only to reflect on myself but to reflect through a lens of humility. It was my arrogance that blinded me to the hypocrisy in my words.
Sonshine Day Camp has been a fun and revealing experience for me. It revealed the holes in my faith so that I may become a better person and follower of Christ.
“David said to Michal, ‘It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord.’”