A day in Joyworld: Times...

"These are the times that try men's souls..."-Thomas Paine

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Now that's it's October {almost November} and I've had a significant amount of time {almost 3 months} to process my summer spent as a counselor at summer camp...

week 1 "junior" campers. 8 and 9 yr olds!

week 4 "teen" campers 13-14 yr olds

week 7 "junior" campers 8-9 yr olds

I have come up with this.

This summer was tiring in every possible way.

Physical, Emotional, Spiritual, Psychological.... you name it, It's been tested.

Physically

waking up at 7am every morning
leading games, running around
shouting and singing at the top of your lungs
not being able to eat enough food at meal times because you're too busy pouring drinks for your campers
"rest time" where no one was ever able to rest
and going to sleep late at night

were not very conducive to an extremely healthy person...

Emotionally

being in a place where no one REALLY knows you
yet where you're expected to spend ALL OF YOUR TIME pouring into 10-13 young girls per week
feeling the need to build strong interpersonal relationships with your co-counselors
trying to remember NOT to lash out at people when you're overly tired or stressed
being on the receiving end of someone's stressful day
and having little contact with people who know you the best,

are probably the most taxing factors that anyone can have to handle...

Spiritually

not having much time to yourself to pursue your OWN spiritual growth
having to lead a short devotion for young girls every morning and night
having to answer tough questions about faith

all without really having time to spend with God, in the Bible, and in prayer...

Psychologically

never seeing the results of your labor
having your faith stretched because you can't see how God is using you at the moment
sometimes only hearing the criticisms, and not praises

it really doesn't have to be many things in order to have a major impact, over the course of 7 weeks...

it.was.rough.

looking back on it in this way, and remembering how much of a struggle some days were, is rather depressing, but is not at all a complete picture of my summer....

To be honest, if it wasn't for...