Seeing Beauty

I've been very busy the last few weeks and was really looking forward to the long weekend to just relax and spend time with the family. I didn't have anything planned and enjoyed the idea of being schedule free.

My weekend didn't turn out as planned.....6:30am Saturday morning I received a call from our Youth Pastor asking if it was possible for me to go to SAYCO (youth camp) as an adult helper.

It was actually quite easy to rearrange my weekend so I could go to camp, the real problem was actually psyching myself up for camp! I AM NOT A CAMPER! I haven't camped since highschool. There was one time where we pitched a tent in our backyard for one night so the kids could experience camping but I don't think you could really call it camping. I know that I am not the outdoors, enjoying nature, sleeping on the floor type of person.

So as I stood watching tents go up, seeing the walk needed to get from the tent to the toilets, noticing the clouds overhead and realising there wasn't any coffee at our campsite, reality hit that this was going to be a loooong weekend.

When you're in an uncomfortable situation it can be easy to see the negatives, to grumble inwardly or to think about the things you're missing out on. Lack of coffee can also do this to a person.

This could have happened to me......but fortunately Ralph Mayhew was the speaker at SAYCO this year. One of Ralph's speaking spots was on Seeing the Beauty. Ralph had broken his arm after falling from a skateboard and he shared the ten top responses he has had from people regarding his broken arm and the fact that he'd broken his arm by falling off a skateboard. Some of the responses had been "You wont get any sympathy from me" and "You've got no one to blame but yourself". It took a response from a stranger who thought it was cool that Ralph would break his arm falling off a skateboard for Ralph to receive a positive response to his hurt, embarrassment and brokenness. He went on to talk about how when we have Jesus in our lives we can see the beauty in the world where others aren't able see beauty. (This is my interpretation of it after a couple of sleep deprived nights)

This talk was just what I needed. Instead of focusing on my uncomfortableness at camping and the ugliness of being sleep deprived,I decided to see beauty around me. I saw youth working together to create a camp site, I saw youth supporting each other as they went to the different workshops, I saw youth worshiping God and encouraging others, I saw youth using their gifts and skills and I saw community being formed. I would have missed this if I had dwelt on my discomfort.

There was so much beauty to see at SAYCO and I know I was privileged to have been called upon early Saturday morning to be part of Seeing Beauty.