It's hard to believe that summer is gone. It has not rained too much but the wind and cooler temperatures are a reminder that fall has officially begun in my world. Fall is here in eastern Ontario and the trees are turning to brilliant reds, oranges and yellows.
As I am the Fall staff team leader, my work life does not slow down much but changes from the roller coaster of summer to the a more rhythmic hustle. I usually say that summer is 'frenetic' where as the other seasons are 'busy'. I have discovered, over the last 3 years, that camp only has slow months, not slow seasons and I have learned to pace myself to make it through the year. I love hosting people and interacting with them but it is nice to work on other things sometimes.
In the transition between summer and fall, I was granted a little more space than the transition between spring and summer. And with space comes introspection and processing through the last 2 seasons of work and life. Here are some of my thoughts coming out of 4 jam-packed months.
This spring/summer our staff (including myself) were learning about listening.
Listening to God
Listening to each other
Listening to themselves
I am not sure if they knew that this was a theme of summer and it was certainly not one we announced. But looking back as I chatted with staff or Assistant staff, I realize now that I kept asking them what God thought, what campers thought/needed, what other staff were thinking or feeling and what were they themselves internally processing.
We do not often stop to listen in our culture. We are caught up in what we think or have to say, what we want and ultimately what we do (I have not missed the irony of this statement as I am blogging my thoughts).
Listening to God...
I hear folks say that they wished they knew what God was telling them or what He wanted them to do...but rarely do they stop, sit down and really spend some time listening. The Lord is gracious and compassionate and answers those who call on Him. But like Elijah found in the wilderness, the Lord is not often loud in His communication with us but speaks in the quiet whisper. It is in the secret place with the Lord that we close out all the distractions of this world and press into relationship with Him. It's here that we learn who He is and consequently how to listen to and recognize His voice. Why don't we spend more time in the secret place with Him?
Listening to each other...
Community is only as rich and supportive as the people who are in it. It is not very supportive if everyone is always focused on themselves and what they want. As North Americans we have seen the result of a 'ME' focused, highly individualized society. As we learn to listen to others our world gains depth due to the relationships we have in it. We learn about others, about God and ourselves through our relationships. But we must listen to the other in order to hear them. Why don't we listen more to each other?
Listening to ourselves...
We don't even stop and listen to, or process, what is going on inside of us, any more than we listen to each other. We might slow down enough to acknowledge when we are upset with someone. But we do not naturally sit to process that and see if that is about the other or actually about ourselves. We teach each other that busy-ness is fulfilling and somehow gives one value. True value is found only in The Lord. Why don't we stop more to process and work through life's stuff with ourselves?
I think the answer to all three of these questions is FEAR. Fear of God, others, ourselves. Fear that if we sit in silence, in the secret place with God, that all of our crap will drive our Heavenly Father away. Fear that if people really knew us, they would leave or if we really listened to them, we might have to walk with them through their crap. Fear of what we might discover if we started looking closely at ourselves. Fear that we might not hear anything at all.
When we spend time with the Lord, we learn what matters to Him and what's on His heart for us and the world. We are changed by encounter with The Lord of Hosts! It is freeing and increases the depths of relationships when we allow the other to see who we are and what we struggle with and to see who they are and what they struggle with. One of the best investments we can make in people is our time and often our honesty about how we are doing. We gain understanding when we look at ourselves and work through the hard parts, not by covering them up or pretending they don't exist. Escaping from ourselves is not fulfilling in the long run, even if it feels better in the present.
So we need to face FEAR. We need to stand firm in the knowledge and experience of Christ's love and His blood shed for us. We need to listen in order to move forward in our life with Christ.
But will I take the time????
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