More than my questions about the efficacy of social actions were my questions about my own motives. Do I want social justice for the oppressed or do i just want to be known as a socially active person? I spend 95 percent of my time thinking about myself anyway. I don't have to watch the evening news to see the world is bad, I only have to look at myself. I am not brow beating here, I am only saying that true change , true life giving, God honoring change would have to start with the individual. I was the very problem I had been protesting.
I wanted to make a sign that read “I am the problem".
-Don Miller, Blue Like Jazz
I know that it has been since Christmas since my last update. I AM SO SORRY! Communicating what is happening here at Pine Valley Camp is so important because you are an integral part in making that happen!
There have been so many happenings this spring! Between recruiting staff and campers for the summer, helping to create our theme and curriculum, and the rest of the whirlwind of life.
I have the honor of teaching 3rd-5th grade girls at my church out on the west side of the state on Wednesday nights. These precious girls are journaling, reading their Bibles, and asking phenomenal questions. One girl shared last week that she encountered an answered prayer. She was looking and looking for a picture of her cousin to share at school the next day and could not find it. She prayed. And then walked into her bedroom and there it was in the very photo album she had been searching through. Our God is a God who cares. About every element of our life. We are now starting on Women in the New Testament and I cannot wait to hear their perspectives.
In the midst of the whirlwind, I get stressed and forget to sit with the Lord at times. One of our Light of the City weekends recently, I was running around taking pictures and flurrying to complete other tasks when I stopped in my tracks. One of our teen girls was sitting at a table and I felt the Lord strongly say "STOP! SIT! LISTEN!" So I forced myself to sit down and engaged her in conversation. This is a young woman who is pursuing her studies in school and just a general delight. We sat and chatted about her life and her goals. It was a very chill conversation, but as I stood up to leave she said "I always enjoy our chats, Miss Elle." In that moment, my heart melted. In that moment, I remembered how every moment truly does matter.
And I had a sudden flashback to the island counter in the middle of my parents' kitchen. I remember how often I would sit on the stool and my mom would lean on the counter, as I vented my frustrations, excitements, and daily musings. And I remember how much it mattered that she STOPPED, LEANED IN, and LISTENED.
It's easy to get swept away with tasks.
It is not easy to STOP.
Stop the whirlwind thoughts.
Stop flurrying actions sourced in my own sense of justice rather than the Lord's leading.
Stop the spirit of criticism long enough to partner with empathy and love.
To STOP and remember my Guide, my Comforter, my Peace....long enough to ask "what do You think?" and to truly STOP, LEAN IN, and LISTEN without an agenda as my mother did all those years ago.
