Devotion for Summer Staff

It has been way too long since my last post!  I want to try to stay true to my original goal of writing twice a month, so I'm hoping to pick up here, in this new month of May, and continue through the rest of the year.

Planning and preparing for the summer has consumed my life the past few months and now that it is almost to my doorstep, I'm looking forward to welcoming it with open arms.

One of my favorite parts about summer is being able to hand over all the hard work that the year-round staff has put in to the young and enthusiastic summer staff that are going to take what we've done, add their creativity, and make it so much better than we ever could have imagined it to be for the campers that they are going to work with.  Seeing the staff take ownership and loving what they do, makes my long days and sleepless nights worth it.  If this is what it feels like to be a parent sending their child off into the world, I can't wait for that to be a part of my life.  The pride of seeing young people interact with one another to make a difference is beyond what any words of pride and excitement could express.  I look forward to each summer's beginning, and each summer's end knowing that between those times, lives will be changed.

Included in this blog is a devotion that I wrote for our summer staff as they prepare their bodies, minds, and hearts for what is to come this summer.  Feel free to use it if you find that it applies somewhere in your life, too.

Devotion for Summer Staff

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

            -Ephesians 4:1-2

There are times that I find myself reflecting on the glory days of college as if I had graduated years ago.  Then reality hits me and I realize that it was only a few years ago that I found myself walking down the aisle to receive my diploma.  There are a few things that I will always remember about being a student.  One of which was working at camp three of the four summers that I attend SHSU.  The other was my education college’s motto. 

“The measure of a life is its service”.  I remember contemplating this statement for the four years that I studied as an education major.  This was such a heavy set of words, and I wasn’t sure that I believed in it much less could live up to it.  Who are we to say how great or horrible someone is based on things that they do?  There are so many people that serve not because they want to but because they have to.  Where do they fall in a statement like this?  Then I realize that by asking such a question, I am judging as well.  I think I might feel better if the motto was “The measure of a life comes from service.”  At least this would imply that there are two sides to service and that both parties could or could not be benefiting from it.  All I know is that people around the globe revere service no matter what capacity it is done in.  We all know that service is two fold.  Those that serve with love impact the lives of those they come in contact with as well as themselves. 

The service that will be done this summer will impact so many people.  The love for this ministry and all that it represents will manifest itself in our actions this summer and we could not be more excited of what we will do.  Each summer, pastors and sponsors continually sing praises of the staff, saying that each summer’s staffing is better than the previous.  Evaluations from campers and their parents will also sing praises about us and many of them won’t be able to wait to have their child return.

The joy of the service that you will do is knowing that it will not only touch the lives of the people that we will meet but also those that we may never be able to.  A few summers ago, we received an email that contained a reflection of the staff’s service that summer by a pastor that was so impressed with camp he wrote a devotion based on it.  He was in awe of the camper response to this place at the end of the week and the days that followed.  In the devotion he states, “Annie STILL thinks she’s an ‘Orange Iguana’”.

Your life will not be measured and judged by the service that you will provide this summer, but your actions of love and compassion will greatly impact the lives of others.  We will help create a memorable summer for campers, parents, pastors and sponsors, as well as ourselves because through God’s grace we have been called to this place.  Blessings as you embark on this summer!

Good and Gracious God, we sing praises to you for calling us to do your will this summer.  Thank you so much for being a guiding presence in our lives and we pray that you continue to make your presence known to us.  Mold us into the servants you have called us to be this summer.  Amen.