Being Wrecked

Being wrecked by God is something that I've watched happen to staff and campers at camp every summer since 2014.  In 2014 and 2015, God wrecked me, but never as often as he did this summer.  During the course of this summer God wrecked me on so many occasions that I lost track of the exact number of times.

During training, we spent one evening with the TST staff (the staff that worked with the high school campers), doing the prayer walk.  During the prayer walk, the signs that kids would read throughout the summer talked about letting go of one's baggage.  I still don't remember what the sign that got me said.  Yet, I remember that it said something that reminded me of holy week and something that I experienced in 2002 at Stony Lake Lutheran Camp.  As I thought about that single week in 2002 during the prayer walk, I knew that I had baggage that I was carrying with me at all times, and that somehow this was going to be a summer that I was going experience something amazing.

That night, we had a time of worship for the staff.  After the TST director spoke, the music began, and leadership spread out throughout the auditorium so that all of the summer staff could go to them to be prayed for.  I knew that I needed a lot of prayer in that moment.  I had already been through so much since the beginning of the year.  I could feel the tears just under the surface.  I knew what I had been carrying around with me, and that I just wanted God to take that baggage from me.  Having been hugged by the TST director, and having been prayed over by her, I couldn't contain my tears any longer.  All the feelings I had been containing for so long now were spilling over in the form of tears.  As I walked to the back of the auditorium to get some space so that I could spend some time alone in prayer, I looked up to see someone I met in 2014 at SpringHill.  The moment she saw me, she grabbed me.  Not only did she hug me, she listened as I told the story of what I had experienced since January.  It was after having heard what I had experienced that she prayed over me.  The tears that were flowing slowed, and eventually ceased.

I wasn't my "normal" self yet.  But I knew that God had my back, and that things were going to get better.

The next morning, as I sat in the auditorium, I realized that I felt like myself again--all the anxiety I had been holding in for so long was gone.  I knew that God had taken my anxieties.  Having talked about sharing our testimonies with campers, we split into pairs to share our testimonies with someone we didn't know yet before going into solo time.  After solo time we all returned to the auditorium for more worship time.

It was during that worship time that I was able to fully worship for the first time this summer.  By the last song, I knew that I needed to sit down and pray.  I had realized that I hadn't taken any of our down time to really spend time with God.  As I sat there in prayer, the band played on.  Eventually it was announced that the band would continue playing for a few minutes so that people could continue to worship if they wanted, but that we were all dismissed for lunch.  I knew that I needed that time alone with God, so I stayed sitting in that chair.  Minutes passed, and I began feeling my energy returning.  Eventually someone that started the same summer I did came over and prayed over me.

During the summer there was one night that the band played In Christ Alone.  Here a few lines of the lyrics:

And as He stands in victory

Sin has lost it's grip on me

and I am His and He is mine

bought with the precious blood of Christ...

...No power of hell

no scheme of man

can every pluck me from His hand

'till He returns

or calls me home

here in the power of Christ I stand

It was as I sang those lyrics for the first time this summer, I knew that God had a plan for me, and that this was going to be a summer during which I was going to begin to understand that plan.  I also couldn't help but think about that moment in 2002 at Stony Lake that I fully understood what Jesus did for us by dying on the cross.  Just the way that I felt God working throughout the summer wrecked me.  Sometimes it was a song lyric like those from In Christ Alone that reminded me of something I had learned years before, and sometimes a lyric would be a good reminder of the fact that God created me perfectly.  Sometimes I watched as the kids I was working with were wrecked during worship, and then show me God in a way I hadn't expected him.

I hope and pray that God continues to wreck me from time to time.  I hope that other people are wrecked by Him too.  Feeling God in that way is so powerful!

Lasts

It's our final closing day...our LAST CLOSING DAY.

This week, as I made my way through the week, I thought about all the things that I was doing for the last time this summer..  For the last time, I rang up a copper country camper in the copper country trading post.  We took one last load of stuff up to Copper Country.   We shut down the copper country computers for the final time.  We made it through one last avenue with the high school campers.  We spent one last night with campers on camp.

Looking back on the lasts of this summer, I'm bummed that it's over.

The end of this summer has been different from the ends of the past several summers.  At the end of the previous summers I had no clue what I would be doing during the fall.  This summer, I'll actually found myself with a job that starts on Monday and plans to get me through until at least next summer.

Looking back at this summer, I can't believe how quickly it went.  How did it go so quickly?  What happened to time?  I honestly feel like there wasn't enough time to get to know some people, and not enough time to spend with those that I did get to know.

I'm looking forward to getting to spend time at home, sleeping my own bed and not having to worry about when I'm showering.  I'm looking forward to eating non camp food.  I'm looking forward to what's next.

What's next is scary at times.  It's hard to say goodbye to what I've been doing to so many months.

Breaking Bread

I have consistently been bad at taking my full two hour breaks this summer.  During the past two summers, I've never had this problem.  This summer has been different.  I've found that I am much more of an ambiovert.  This means that I enjoy my time alone, but also draw energy from others at times.

Being in the trading post (camp store) this summer, I've found myself enjoying spending so much time around campers.  There have been the campers that I've wanted to get out and see me kids more.  It's then that the kids coming through the trading post make me smile.  Sometimes kids get excited about the simplest thing, like the fact that we have root beer.

What I didn't expect this summer was what would happen the night before and day that my second group of campers would leave.  My second group of campers was a group I connect well with.  On their second Wednesday at camp, the counselors, AD, and I took our kids behind the craft house to wash their feet.   I don't know if the kids got anything out of us washing their feet.  For me, being able to wash their feet was something that I loved doing.  It allowed me to do one last thing for them.  The following night, we did this thing called breaking bread with the kids.  One person starts in the middle of the circle of kids and staff for the area with a loaf of bread.  They call up someone that they want to say something nice about.  Both people then take a small piece of the bread, and eat it.  The person that was called up then takes the bread and calls someone else up.  Nobody can get called up a second time during the first round.  After that, we go into a free for all where everyone mingles and talks with each other about the things that they saw in each other.

It was as we did breaking bread that I was called up by my AD (Area Director), right away.  It was the first time that I had ever been the first person called up.  As we were preparing to leave after breaking bread to go to bed, I was standing in the middle of the room with tears streaming down my face, and laughing.  The kids had  "broken" me.  I had fallen in love with them, and was having a hard time saying goodbye to them.  It was then that my AD asked me if I was laughing or crying.  I was crying because I knew I didn't have any more time with them that I could use to love them.  I didn't think that I'd find a group that I would love so much, or connect with in the way that I did.

I didn't realize just how much I was going to miss the kids until Friday morning when I didn't have any time with them after they left the cabin.  I didn't realize just how much I love those kids until that Friday morning.  As I walked from the cabin to the staff lounge to check for mail, I cried.  Several people stopped to make sure that I was okay.  It was good to know that people cared enough to stop to make sure I was fine.  It was as I left the staff lounge that a member of the staff that I don't know very well stopped me to see how I was doing.  It was then that  she said that it was clear that this was a great job for me simply because I had thrown myself into knowing the kids and loving them in a say that I now missed them.

The area director I was with for those two weeks was, and is amazing.  She consistently was there if I needed to talk.  She consistently encouraged me to take my breaks.  In all honesty, God has spoken through her to me in so many ways.

As we now head into our final week of "normal" summer camp, I find myself wondering what this week is going to bring me.  I've had three groups of two week campers, and will now have one one-week group of campers.   I can't say what this fall holds for me.  But I can say that whatever this fall holds is going to bring new lessons and experiences that I can't wait for!

Breaks

I've struggled with taking my full two hour breaks this summer.  The fact that I am finding myself needing to be around people to gain energy has made taking time for myself and God hard.  I've found that those few minutes between groups in the Trading Post (camp store), the time spent walking from the trading post to find my group, and the time spent building and starting a campfire for my campers is the alone time that I need the most.  Those are the times that I find it the easiest to talk to God.  Those are the times that I hear God the most.

Abby, one of my co-workers at camp, once asked me if I ever take time off.  I do use part of my breaks, but two hours has been tough for me.  What people might not realize is that it is through struggling to take my breaks, and not be around kids during my day off, I have begun to feel pulled into ministry.  It's not that I really wanted to go into ministry full time at the beginning of the summer, but that God is leading me in that direction.  Just the fact that I am finding the simplest moments to be alone with myself and God is a good feeling.

Now that I'm back from the family reunion, and am in my first day back after a nice vacation, I've realized that being here at SpringHill is a great experience for me.  It's forced me to spend more time with God, and more time thinking about others instead of focusing on myself.

Washing of the feet

God has an amazing plan for each of our lives.

It was yesterday morning that the AD (Area Director) I have been with since July 10 and I were both thinking about washing our kids feet yesterday morning and had a text exchange about it.  As I sat on a rock in the stream, it quickly became obvious that my shorts were going to be wet.  I was okay with that.  While one of the guys read the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet, I couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like to be a fly on the wall, watching Jesus do so.  Sitting on the rock in the stream, I looked around and couldn't help but see God in the nature around me.  I've loved being able to spend time with these girls.  Being able to serve them this week by washing their feet and pray over them was priceless.

What you might not know is, that for the past two weeks, I've spent a lot of time in prayer, and talking with my co-workers here at SpringHill.  All of that time has been spent thinking, talking, and praying about what God's amazing plan for me is.  What he has started to make very clear to me is that he wants me in ministry.

God's plan for me hasn't always been clear.  Yet, as He works in my life, He continues to blow my mind.  The way that he works to make things happen sometimes seem hard to handle, but He has us experience those things so that we grow and learn to rely more on Him than on the world for our needs.

What I didn't expect during the time spent washing campers feet last night was that I would find myself loving being able to serve these campers in this way.  I also realized that I am now feeling a sense of direction and purpose in my life that I haven't felt since before I was let go from my previous job.  As I've thought about it, working at SpringHill Camps, I've found a place where I feel needed, wanted, loved, appreciated, and a place where I feel like what God is calling me to do in the long term is being fulfilled in the short term.

I can say that God's plan for my future is bright, and holds ups and downs.

God's words

I can't help but be amazed by the way that the simplest action has an impact on others.

Back in 2014, about halfway through the summer, I was working with a group of campers that was having a huge impact on me.  One of those campers was the first camper I had a one on one conversation with.  I later had another one on one conversation with another camper in that cabin.  I somehow always managed to be with a third camper when she was crying.  The thing was, that group of campers was the first group that I had fully connected with.  It was a group of campers that needed a lot of love, but also loved me as much as I loved them.  It was that group that I wrote letters to.  I wrote each of them a letter, but didn't put any names on any of the letters, and trusted that God would give me the right words for each letter, and would put the right letter in the hands of the camper that needed those words the most.

After that group of campers, I regularly would write letters to the girls cabin I was working with.  It continued last summer.

This summer, the first group of campers I worked with was a two week mega area.  We had two girls cabins and one guy cabin with roughly 39 campers.  Before meeting the kids, I was already writing each one of those 39 kids a letter.  I didn't need their name.  I had a feeling that these kids needed to hear something God had to say to them through me.  Each letter had a verse in it.  I knew that each of the letters would find its way to the kid in the area that needed to hear those words the most.

I had no idea just how big of an impact that the letters would have on the kids,but many of the girls said that their letter had the words that they needed to hear.

You might not always realize it, but more often than not, God will speak to you through someone else.

Starting Over

"Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer."  Romans 12:12

Hope, patience, and suffering are three things that I am all to familiar with.

I may not have experienced the suffering of losing someone in my immediate family, the suffering associated with war or disease.  I am not very patient when I'm tired, lonely, feeling forgotten, or am excited.  I don't always pray as often as I know I should.  The one thing I've never struggled with is being hopeful about the future.

Looking back at the past year I realized that I was constantly hopeful about what the future would bring.  I was hopeful I'd find a job.  I was hopeful I would buy a car.  I was hopeful I would find my passion.  I was helpful I would find direction for my life.  When I was offered a job, I was so happy.  In a way I knew I was exactly where I needed to be.  The hope I had found the job I belonged in gave me reason to rejoice.

When I was let go from that job, I found myself suffering in a way I hadn't experienced ever before.  There were feelings of not being good enough and so many questions.  Why had I fallen in love with my job, only to be let go?  Why did I feel like all my hard work had gone unnoticed.  Why did I feel like I was starting all over again?  Why was depression coming back to bite me in the rear end again.  Why didn't this make sense?

There was so much hurt; so much pain; so much suffering.  Yet there was a sense that even through all of the hurt, pain and suffering I would come out of it a better person.  I patiently applied and interviewed for jobs.  Yet none of them worked out.  I can't say what God's plan was, or is, but I do know that he has a plan for me.

The moment I knew I was headed back to SpringHill I felt like celebrating.  I was still masking the pain of having lost a job, but I had found that so many friends who loved and cared for me were there, praying for me and loving me.  It was during my time without a job that I realized that parents who care will do whatever they can for you, but that they can't do and be everything that you need.  Sometimes you just need a friend or co-worker.

I had reached out to several people I had met at SpringHill in those first days of unemployment, and was so grateful for their support.  It was good to have people who cared out there, praying for me and ready to be there when I just needed to get something off my mind.  Between their prayers and support, and my prayers, I knew that God had heard my cries for everything I needed during that time.  I wasn't sure what else to do, or what he had in store for me.

I found myself at peace with my job situation one day, knowing that I'd be back in a seasonal position at SpringHill.  It was with that peace that the depression began to lift.  I felt like I had a purpose again.  I still had anxieties.  Anxiety about a new position at SpringHill was the least of my worries.  The anxiety over what would come after camp was over was what was causing the most anxiety.  I could go for days leading up to my arrival at camp, then have anxiety overwhelm me when nobody was around.

Before I knew it, I was at camp, loving being around other people who are passionate about kids and teaching them about God.  Feeling like I have a purpose again has been what I needed the most, and I found that here at SpringHill.  Over the course of the first few days of training I began to get to know people I had never met before.  It felt good to spend time with others.  Yet I was a little anxious about what to expect in the trading post and what was coming after camp.  I knew that the anxiety would purist, but that there were people here that would get me through it when the anxiety was to much for me to handle.

The Cross

What you don't realize about camp, if you've never worked at one, sent your kid(s) to one, or been to camp yourself, is how much it changes people for the better.  When you work at a camp, you get to experience what it is like to have an impact on children and help them to develop skills.

What most people wouldn't know was just how much camp has changed me.

All those years ago, when I went to camp thanks to confirmation.  During the summer of 2002, that the staff of the camp I grew up going to did a re-enactment of holy week.  I had been forewarned that this was coming, and that many campers who had seen this in previous weeks had been emotional.  Nobody could say how each individual camper would react. 

I still remember thinking how unique this was as the re-enactment began.  It was at the point of that we reached Jesus' trial, and the chant of "crucify him" began that I suddenly understood what had happened during holy week.  It was in that moment that I finally understood what Jesus had done for ME.  It was then that I finally had a belief that there was a God who cared about ME.

After it was all over, the girls I was in a cabin with were walking back to the cabin.  I don't remember saying anything.  I do remember the counselor catching up with us.  I don't remember if she said anything to any of us.  I remember the rest of my cabin mates talking about it.  As we walked along, I didn't have any words for what it was like to experience God like that for the first time.  I couldn't find the words to explain the feelings I was experiencing.  What sticks out to me the most was the fact the my counselor reached out and put a hand on my shoulder.  It was in that simple touch that I felt God touching me, comforting me, telling me that he understood.

I don't think that I would have ever even considered working at SpringHill if it wasn't for that week during the summer of 2002 when I really experienced God for the first time through the beauty of being outside, and through that counselor.

You never know how God will reach a child, especially when that child is in nature, surrounded by campers who are also learning about God, and a camp staff that loves what they do and others.

Let your light shine

"For it is the God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."  2 Corinthians 4:6

Let light shine out of darkness--this is a phrase that I've never fully learned how to allow to happen so that others can see God's glory.  You might think that, because I work at a Christian summer camp that I'd be good at this.  Yet it is something I'm still learning to do.  Letting God's light shine out of my darkness might take me a bit.  Yet I will eventually get there.

People know that working at a summer camp means that you have the power to influence the kids you come into contact with.  Yes, we will influence these kids this summer.  But it isn't through out power that we influence them--it's through God's power.  In sharing my struggles with others, I can share God's love and the work that HE has done through an in me.

I've been told that I light up a room the moment that I walk in.  This may be true, but it isn't my joy, my smile, or the things I do that light up the room.  It is what God does through me that lights up the room.  God allowed me to experience depression and anxiety, knowing  that I could handle what he was handing me.  God never will allow us to experience something we cannot handle.  And that's something truly amazing.

Sit still.  Be quiet.  Remember that time that was such a struggle to get through?  He was working through you during that time.  He was working in you.  There is a high probability that God worked through you to teach someone else and a chance that you have no clue that impact that God had on another person through you.

DO you remember that person who had an impact on you, on your faith?  Did you ever tell them about the impact that they had?  Do they know that God touched your life through them?  Have you thanked God for that person?  Have you thanked God for what He did?

Whatever you experience, look to God for help.  Remember God won't ever give you anything you cannot handle.

Blessed

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.  Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.  Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.  Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."  Matthew 5:3-11

On June 10, I made the drive from home to the place I call my second home, SpringHill camps.  I was ready to be back at my second home, doing something I love, and something where I know I have an impact on others.

From the moment that I arrived back on camp, I kept finding people that I worked with here the past two summers, which was nice.  Yet there were so many new faces--people I had never met.  After a rough spring, seeing friends again, and receiving so many hugs from them was such a positive thing.  Those hugs were reminders of the fact that even when things aren't and haven't been going the way I would like them to, there are people (other than my family) out there who care and want to see me succeed and are true friends.

We are still doing training, and the first campers will arrive on Saturday and Sunday.  Everyone is excited for their first campers, yet know that the training we are going now is important.

It was strange to be one of the few returning staff members amount the high school campers staff.  Yet, the staff that will be working with the high school campers are a lot of fun to spend time with.  I can't wait to see them working with the high school campers, and see the impact that they have.  The great thing about the returning high school campers staff is that they were so pumped to see me back at camp again.

Throughout the spring, after my hours got cut at my previous job, then was let go, I didn't really understand why God was sending me away from that place when I enjoyed the position, and enjoyed the people I served in that position.  All I knew was that God must have a plan for me, and that whatever that plan was, it was for the best that I wasn't with my previous employer any longer.  The returning staff that knew about what had happened with my previous position were great about it, and have checked in to see how I'm doing.  What I didn't expect was the way that people that I had never met before reacted when I told the story of the past year.  The way that those people reacted and supported me has reminded me that there is a good chance that there are people here at SpringHill that I will be friends with for years to come.

I may be in a different position here at camp--the Trading Post (aka camp store), and I may not be working with nearly as many people as I have during the past two summers.  But I am meeting new people, and constantly reminding myself of the fact that God has  a plan for me, even when it isn't clear what that plan is.  Whatever is next will be a great experience that I won't ever forget!

Working at SpringHill is such a blessing, and a situation that I am SO GLAD that God put me in.

What you don't know...

Sometimes you realize that you have no clue what is going on--nothing that is happening makes any sense to you, and all you can do is hope and pray that things begin to make sense in the near future.  Sometimes someone asks you a question, and you have no clue how to answer that single question.  In the last year, I've experienced both of these situations.

At the end of last summer, I had the chance to be a crew chief (aka a counselor for the high school campers) at SpringHill.  I couldn't have asked for a better group of kids to be a crew chief for.  Yet it was a challenge at times to figure out what was going on with these kids and why they acted the way they did.  There were also the moments when I was lucky enough to get a little glimpse of what they had experienced during their lives.  In those moments when I got a glimpse of what they had experienced, I began to understand where these kids were coming from.  During those challenging moments, all I could do was pray that I knew how to connect with the kid(s), and help them.  Those were times I often forgot to remember that I'm not perfect, and that these kids will learn more if they knew that I didn't have all the answers.

There was that one question that a camper asked last summer that got me thinking: Do atheists go to heaven?  That was one question I didn't have the answer for at the time, and it was a question the bugged me.  So I reached out to a former pastor from my home church, and she had a great answer to the question of do atheists go to heaven.

After camp was over, and I was back at home, I was hired to work for an after school program.  What I hadn't realized walking into the interview for that position was that the director had worked at SpringHill years ago.  It was clear when we talked about SpringHill that we both had fond memories of the place and the people.

I didn't expect what happened in September.  I interviewed for a position as a cook at a local senior living facility, and was offered the job.  This meant I'd be working 37 hours a week, and wouldn't be able to work for the after school program.  I ended taking the job, and found that I loved the residents, and enjoyed being around the people I worked with.  At some point along the way, my hours were cut and I began looking for a second, part time, job.  April 1 came, and I was let go.  That was hard.  The first week of not having a job to look forward to going to was the worst.  I had gone from having a job where I enjoyed myself, and was able to do something positive to suddenly not having anything to do but look for a job.  That first week I felt like I was going crazy not having a few shifts to work.  The second week got easier because I started getting interviews.  Yet nobody was offering me a position.

As time passed, and I knew that I'd be going back to SpringHill this summer, I got to thinking.

At the end of last summer I had no idea where the upcoming year would take me.  I didn't know that I would spend a month chasing a bunch of middle school kids around a school gym after school, coloring with them, talking with them, helping some with their homework, and loving every minute of it.  I didn't know that I would spend six months of my life working with a bunch of people who were old enough to be my grandparents, and who became like a second family to me.  I didn't know that when one of those residents died, that I would go to a visitation, and have a great conversation with his wife while taking her back to the senior living facility.  Did I know that I would be going back to SpringHill for a third summer?  Did I know that I would buy a car?  Did I know that in being let go from one position, I would begin to think about what I wanted to do in the long run?

In being let go, I realized that maybe finding a job or two to get me through the next few years would be helpful.  After all, I began to realize that I really enjoy working with food and with people.  It was towards the end of my time at the senior living facility that I realized that I might want to go to culinary.

If there is one thing I realized, it's that in the curve balls that life throws us, we often can learn about ourselves.

"See, I have refined you but not like silver; I have tested you in the furnace of adversity."  Isaiah 48:10

It's been a while since I posted here.  I've been trying to stay busy for a reason.  Back at the beginning of October 2015, I started working at a local senior living place as a cook.  I was so excited about this new job where I worked 37 hours a week, making meals for residents that I got to know, and developed relationships with.  I couldn't have been happier.

Flash back to August 5, 2015.  I was still at SpringHill, and had this feeling that God was going to send me back to SpringHill for the summer of 2016.

Sometimes God sends someone who is still learning and growing to teach others.  In teaching others these people grow and show God through their pain that comes as they grow, joy and understanding of God.  It is as these people are challenged, and are still learning, that they become more than they could have ever expected or hoped to become.

It was on April 1, that I went into work at the senior living place, only to be told that I was being let go.  What a way to start the month of April.  Back at home, I told my parents about what had happened.  They were understanding of how hard loosing this job was for me.  It had been a great place for me to work.  I had made a few friends who also were co-workers.  I also had gotten to know the residents and loved their individual personalities.  Working there had been a place where there was always someone to talk to about stuff that might be going on in your personal life--there was always someone to run ideas past on how to handle a situation you weren't sure how to handle.  I had found people that hadn't worked at camp who cared about me as much as the people I had met at camp did.  All of the sudden, I wasn't going to see these people, wasn't going to have a job to look forward to.

Since then, I've been applying and interviewing for so many different positions, yet nothing has worked out.  I keep trying.  Thankfully I know that SpringHill is right there, an hour away, excited to have me back this summer.  It's comforting to know that I have a plan for the summer.

I have no clue what to expect out of this summer.  I know what will happen at SpringHill.  But I don't know what to expect from campers, or what is next.  All I know for sure is that I'm still looking.  The thing is, I've been through so much since the beginning of 2015.  I've survived one horrible job situation, and being let go from another job.  Nothing has been easy since the beginning of 2015.  The moment I think I have my feet under me and have a handle on life, stuff happens, and my feet are pulled out from under me.

God sure has tested me in the past year and a half.  I still don't h ave all the answers.  I don't even have an understanding of why some things happen.  But I do know that God hasn't given me anything that I can't handle.  He's defiantly given me a handful on a regular basis.  If there's anything I've learned since the beginning of 2015, it's that despite the ups and downs, life sure can be interesting.

Unsung Heros (Part Two)

If you haven't read my post about the unsung hero's of camp that I wrote and posted here this summer, go back and read it.  Then come back to this post and read it.

Over the summer I realized just how many people do jobs that don't get much, or any, recognition.  We all recognize the actors, musicians, athletes.  We look up to doctors.  We remember the teachers that had an impact on our lives.  We remember the camp counselor that had a positive impact on us, the mentor, the boss that gave us a chance to shine by hiring us.  We don't think about the people that pick up our garbage, the taxi driver, the bus driver, the server or cook at a restraunt.  Why don't we think about the people who serve us without any thanks?

Today, while I was doing dishes at work, I got to thinking about all the people who aren't thanked for all their hard work.  As I thought about it, I realized that I don't see many of the families of the residents that I help to feed.  I don't hear the resident's families saying thank you for feeding their loved ones.  Yet I don't mind not hearing a thank you from them.  Instead I've come to appreciate the little things that the residents say and do that make me smile--after all these are the things that make doing what I do worth it.  Seeing a resident smile, getting a wave from a resident, making a resident laugh, or even getting a thumbs up from a resident makes doing what I do worth it.

What most people don't think about is the fact that even the simplest actions--things like saying thank you, a hug, or a shared joke--make each of us smile.  Many times saying thank you in a way other than saying those words means more than the words.

Just today I sat down to play the piano at work during my half hour break.  Someone had come to pick up one of the residents to take him to the local senior center, and while waiting listened to me play.

Between songs he said, "You should be a professional."

That meant the world to me.  In a way he was thanking me for playing.  It was something that made me smile, made me feel good, and made me realize that this thing that is a creative outlet for me is something that other people appreciate.  Why don't we say more kind things to the people around us, even when we don't always get along with those same people?

There are days when I wonder why we don't appreciate other peoples talents, jobs, abilities?