One of the things I love most about summertime is the early mornings in the light.
This week, my students and I are at camp.
Youth and kids camp is not like normal camping. We aren’t sleeping in tents or eating around campfires. Rather, kids are sleeping in dorms, and activities fill the day.
Camp is busy and bustling. Always busy.
Last year at camp, I started practicing something I thought was extremely important: a bit of quiet before the day started.
Our campground has a piece of lakefront property on the peninsula where the camp is.
Sometimes I’ll fish early before most of the camp is even awake. An hour of quiet and stillness.
Sometimes I’ll come down to the beachfront, sit in a chair, and just sit in the stillness.
I have my reading, prayers, and just relax, breathing in the presence of God.
One of the things I love about the lakefront is that you can see every piece of water moving across the face of the lake. In the morning, the water is beautiful with life.
You can sit and hear birds fly through the air, chirping their early morning songs.
You’ll hear the quiet lapping of small waves hitting the shore.
You’ll hear the quiet, distant rumblings of a storm sweeping in across the lake.
The scary thing about camp is that in the midst of busyness, we sometimes find ourselves missing out on our moments.
We relegate Jesus to engaging services and moving speeches, and we often find ourselves forgetting that Jesus is possibly most present when we simply sit quietly before him.
Sometimes I’m thankful simply to follow Jesus into the quiet place, the eremos, and find rest before a busy day.
Take some time today and find a quiet place. Jesus is there too.