"Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today.
You can choose to be in a good mood or... you can choose to be in a bad
mood."
"I can do everything through him who gives me strength." -Philippians 4:13
I spent a week recently at my favorite place on earth, Camp Barnabas. Do you have a place like that in your life? A place where everything seems to be in place and at peace? If you don't know, Barnabas is located in the Middle of Nowhere, Missouri and is a summer camp for children and adults with different special needs diagnoses. For a week they come to camp and can just have a normal week of fun in the sun.
The truly remarkable thing about Camp though is not just these kids, but the fact that it is staffed primarily by teenage volunteers from youth groups around the country. You know, the same teenagers who can't give you anything more than a standard "Good" when you ask about their day. The same teenagers whose lives are so marked with childish drama that it's hard to tell if we're watching real-life or re-runs of Dawson's Creek. The same teenagers we keep calling the "Hope of Tomorrow" because they must be too immature to improve the world of today.
These teenagers even PAY to share a week with a camper whose needs are more than most parents of toddlers could ever dream of. The week we were there this summer was called "Young Friends," a week where the campers are teenagers with developmental disabilities like autism, Down Syndrome and similar diagnoses. Each camper is paired with a teenage volunteer who is not only there to hang out and have a blast at camp with him or her, but is also there to support all of their needs that arise.
As we drove through Missouri on the way back to South Carolina this summer, I found myself talking to Denise, one of my just graduated from high school youth who was paired with a young girl named Kennedy for the week. To put it mildly, Kennedy was a handful. She didn't want to do any activity, couldn't sit still and hit, spit and scratched anyone in her vicinity. As Denise and I were reflecting a little bit on her week in the bus, I noticed scratches on her face and up and down her arms. She had bruises on her arms and stomach. And let's just say she hadn't exactly gotten a lot of sleep.
But when I asked her how her week was, it was overwhelming to hear the excitement in her voice. She was already talking about going back the next summer! "I mean, it was really tiring," she said. "But it was so much fun! Kennedy was a blast!"
Then there was Justin, who like Denise just graduated from high school. Two days into Camp I found him and asked him how he was doing. With the biggest smile I've ever seen on his face, he replied, "This is the most fun I've ever had not getting any sleep!"
These things don't seem to naturally go hand-in-hand. To be constantly dealing with a camper who can be incredibly exhausting (physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, sleepily) and yet totally in love and having a blast doesn't seem to mix.
But God was teaching me something that we've been taught since pre-school: attitude is one of the most contagious things in the world. Camp is governed first and foremost by one guideline: the J.O.Y. principle. What does this mean? It means we serve Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself last. It means we are constantly thinking of others before ourselves. And what is so incredible about Camp is that this becomes more than words. It becomes reality.
It's like a tidal wave that sweeps everyone up in the current. Even if originally you're not really on board, everyone else around you is willing to pick you up and pull you along until nothing seems more natural than smiling while helping someone else. Others won't LET you struggle.
Or maybe it's like a virus, one with no antidote, that just spreads and spreads. What it has convinced me of is that attitude is as contagious as any disease known to man. When others around us are so caught up enjoying the moment and serving others, we can't help but get caught up with it.
We can't control our circumstances, just as we cannot control the future or the weather. Some things just are. But how we respond, how we deal with those things, is the mark or who we are and the story we invite others into. You see, I don't believe that things are always easy or pleasant. In fact, I don't believe Jesus ever had that in mind. It seems to me that he was always preparing his disciples for the OPPOSITE in fact. "There will be trials," he constantly warned them.
Have you ever seen sports teams using Philippians 4:13 as a team motto on a shirt? You know the verse, "I can do all things through He who strengthens me." It's become the great, "We are the Champions" verse of high school sports. But Paul had a much different purpose when he wrote it 2,000 years ago.
He was in prison and learning to be content in his place. He wasn't saying, "I will become a champion if God is behind me." He was saying, "If this is where God wants me, I can do this." That became our prayer at Camp this summer, and it brought an incredible peace to our entire group. Because everything we went through (the long days at the pool, the sleepless nights, the spitting and the scratching, the laughs of parties) was where God wanted us, and what reason was there for us to complain. And when we allowed ourselves to be positive and joyful, it invited others around us to do the same.
We cannot control all the roads God will lead us down in life. We can however control the attitude we respond with. When we allow ourselves to find the best in things, our attitude can become the most contagious infection known to man. And when we're not able to see the positives, it's nice to have others around us who help us!
forever unfinished...
