I have many fond memories from my growing up years of a place called Camp Bountiful. It's a camp owned by the church I grew up in, settled in the hills of southeastern Ohio. I used to spend a couple of weeks there every summer, attending family camp (affectionately known as Reunion) and any youth camp I was either eligible to attend or old enough to help/volunteer with. Although it is a beautiful place and I participated in a lot of fun activities there, it was not those things that kept me coming back. What kept me coming back was the spirit I found there--the connection to God and the love that surrounded me.
I was twelve the summer I became conscious of it. I was attending one of my first Junior High camps. Because I was extremely outgoing and had been attending camps here since I was a toddler, I was in my element. I was good at making friends. In fact, I often had friends that didn't like each other. As it happened, two of my good friends that week were enemies. Both of them asked me individually why I liked the other one. I proceeded to talk about the best qualities of the other, although I could tell I wasn't believed. I ignored the friction between the two, but I could feel it just the same.
One of the best things about youth camps were the campfires held at night. There were lively songs and funny skits in the first part of campfire that would slowing transition into a much more mellow place of calm and peace. Usually toward the end of the week, campfires would open to periods of reflection and people were encouraged to share what they had learned throughout the course of the week.
The final campfire that week was a magical one. The experiences people shared spoke of great love, which ultimately binds us all. My two friends who had been in conflict that week apologized to each other and forged the beginning bonds of friendship. The presence of God was powerfully present--so much so I began to see the images of angels among the trees that were the backdrop of our campfire. Everything was perfect at that time in that place.
A soft misty rain fell the following day as we left camp. It almost felt as though God was a little sad that we had to leave this place of connection to go back to our lives in the "real" world. While the goal of camp is to take such feelings back into the world with the hope of growing them there, it was difficult to leave the perfection of that place--the perfection of that feeling.
That is the world I envision. While many would say it is a pipe dream that could never happen in the real world, I beg to differ. I have been there. I have seen it. I have experienced it. I know it can exist in this plane. This is the life I work toward every day as I struggle to find my place in this world.
As we open our hearts to love, we open ourselves to a whole different place--a whole different state of BEing. Our hearts don't come from a place of logic. Our hearts come from a place of feeling, and feeling is what manifests in the real world. The closer we come to thinking first with our hearts, the closer we come to establishing this peaceful more perfect world.
I am looking for people who also see this vision of the future. Join me?
~CSE
I was twelve the summer I became conscious of it. I was attending one of my first Junior High camps. Because I was extremely outgoing and had been attending camps here since I was a toddler, I was in my element. I was good at making friends. In fact, I often had friends that didn't like each other. As it happened, two of my good friends that week were enemies. Both of them asked me individually why I liked the other one. I proceeded to talk about the best qualities of the other, although I could tell I wasn't believed. I ignored the friction between the two, but I could feel it just the same.
One of the best things about youth camps were the campfires held at night. There were lively songs and funny skits in the first part of campfire that would slowing transition into a much more mellow place of calm and peace. Usually toward the end of the week, campfires would open to periods of reflection and people were encouraged to share what they had learned throughout the course of the week.
The final campfire that week was a magical one. The experiences people shared spoke of great love, which ultimately binds us all. My two friends who had been in conflict that week apologized to each other and forged the beginning bonds of friendship. The presence of God was powerfully present--so much so I began to see the images of angels among the trees that were the backdrop of our campfire. Everything was perfect at that time in that place.
A soft misty rain fell the following day as we left camp. It almost felt as though God was a little sad that we had to leave this place of connection to go back to our lives in the "real" world. While the goal of camp is to take such feelings back into the world with the hope of growing them there, it was difficult to leave the perfection of that place--the perfection of that feeling.
That is the world I envision. While many would say it is a pipe dream that could never happen in the real world, I beg to differ. I have been there. I have seen it. I have experienced it. I know it can exist in this plane. This is the life I work toward every day as I struggle to find my place in this world.
As we open our hearts to love, we open ourselves to a whole different place--a whole different state of BEing. Our hearts don't come from a place of logic. Our hearts come from a place of feeling, and feeling is what manifests in the real world. The closer we come to thinking first with our hearts, the closer we come to establishing this peaceful more perfect world.
I am looking for people who also see this vision of the future. Join me?
~CSE
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