happy plants

Sunflowers are my favorite flower. I'd love to tell you I picked it as my favorite because of some deep spiritual and thoughtful application, but truthfully, I always loved how happy it looks. They are always seen with a vibrant blue sky in the background. I have sweet memories of "working" in my family's sunflower garden that was in my backyard in Mississippi. I was probably 4 years old wearing overall shorts, mud on my face and mud covering my little bare feet, hot Mississippi sun beating down. My Papaw called me over and knelt down showing me the seed. He let me plant it in the ground, and I was amazed at how quickly it grew. and grew. and grew. Soon my brother and sister and I were running under the shade of the giant sunflowers. I'm sure they weren't as tall as I remember them, but in my mind they were towering over me. I felt like I was in "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids." I still go back to those days whenever I see those bright yellow leaves and big black faces. Recently however, I've gained an entirely new appreciation for sunflowers. Most people know what I'm about to write, so don't get your hopes up too high. I suppose I knew it, but it never clicked I guess. Did you know sunflowers always turn to face the sun? Someone mentioned that to me in the breakfast line at camp the other day. As I let it roll around in my head for a little while, I realized that that makes perfect sense. Wouldn't you be happy if you kept your focus on your source of life? No wonder sunflowers are the happiest plant out there. I think you can see where I'm going here for the spiritual application. If only we kept our focus and our faces fixed on the Son. He is our life-giver and source of peace. Isaiah 26:3 puts it, "You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you."

1st sesh.

seriously, this place is unreal.

My beautiful girls on magazine makeover night.

52 minutes. That's how much time I've left myself for this post. 52 minutes until our nightly tribe staff meeting. Of course I've had all day that I could've written. After all, I've been off since 8 am this morning. I could tell you I've been just far too busy running errands, but that probably wouldn't be true. Truthfully I've had such a wonderfully un-busy day today. For those of you who don't know, I'm working WinShape camp for girls and am absolutely LOVING it. But... as my mom says "God knew what he was doing when he gave us a day of rest." How true that is. No matter how much you love your work, a little rest is always a good thing. What a wonder a few hours in a quiet coffee shop with just a mocha and my Bible can do. And then to have not 2 but 3 (so glad you surprised me K-dawg!!!) wonderful friends drive 2 hours with no exciting plans to lure them but just to spend the day with me.. how blessed I am. Now I have time to sit and reflect in these rare few moments of silence on all that God has entrusted to me. It's humbling and overwhelming, but my prayer is that I'll be a good steward of all of these blessings he's given me that I don't deserve. I'm just reminded every day of how good He is. All that to say, I'm so excited for what He's doing here at camp. I've grown so much and feel like I could type for days about all that He's taught me. I thought camp was to teach the campers.. nope, I'm learning so many lessons too. One less spiritual lesson I'm learning is that Justin Bieber is as close to an angel as any human specimen is going to get as far as my girls can tell. Grayson Chants and Cody Simpson are a distant 2 and 3 to the powerful Biebs. I also know that JB's birthday is March 1st. There is an entire week devoted to celebrating his birthday. His favorite color is purple, thus my campers are wearing a particularly violet hue these days. Also I learned about a thing I like to call Oreo Dream. There's no other name that will suffice. Picture the most delicious thing you've eaten and then go 10 steps further and there you have Oreo Dream. This one item on the camp menu is proof that even though the camp is called WinSHAPE, it does NOT get you INSHAPE. (You'd be surprised how many people think it's supposed to be a fat camp just judging by the name). A few more significant lessons I've learned are found in these simple statements. We call them 3AM statements because if you wake any of us up in the middle of the night, we should be able to talk about them.

1. I am something because Christ became nothing.
2. I'm ok because Christ rules the day.
3. I'm alive because Christ lives inside.
4. I'm capable because Christ's power is available.
5. I'm needed because Christ's plan isn't completed.

These 5 statements are contrite, but they are actually deep and powerful sentences that we're doing our best to explain to 90 7th and 8th grade girls over the next couple months. When I'm feeling inadequate over this staggering task, I can just turn back to number 4. I'm capable because Christ's power if available. Thanks be to God that I don't have to teach this on my own. He's given a powerful camp pastor and He's given me His spirit to communicate with these girls who so badly need to hear truth. To block out the noise of the rest of the world, the media, their friends, boys, their ideals. All the while I'm "teaching" I'm learning. Learning a lot. We're halfway through the first session and it's been such an experience. I've been here 3 weeks and He has done such a work in me already. I can't wait to see what He does in these girls' lives by the end of this thing. Keep us all in your prayers. You're in mine.