"You fill up my senses..."

"…You fill up my senses
Like a night in the forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again.

Come let me love You
Let me give my life to You…"

I woke up this morning to the song of hummingbirds drinking from the nasturtium and lobelia that cascade from hanging baskets on my front porch, a soft breeze blowing through the open windows in my cabin, and the smell of pancakes wafting up from the kitchen in Valerie Lodge. From my bed, I was surrounded by sounds and scents…and yes, even the  tastes…of camp.  Without a moment's "thought-taking" the words to John Denver's "Annie's Song" began floating through my prayers.   I don't think I've heard, or even thought, of this song in over a decade, but every word was as crystal clear as a bell…and it rang true.  But it was not, in that moment,  about my relationship with another person….it was about my relationship with God.

I wonder if perhaps my heart was primed by a 53 year-old camp tradition we had celebrated the night before.  "Alone with Your Thoughts" is as much a part of A/U (Adventure Unlimited) for me as campfires and flag-raising.  In many ways, it more accurately depicts the spirit of "camp" for me than s'mores, and sleeping bags, rodeos and rafting.

"Alone with You Thoughts" had its birth in A/U co-founder, Cap Andrews' years on a WWII submarine.   Assigned to four hour night watches at sea, young Cap committed himself to practicing increasingly longer periods of thought watching.   Being silent, observing and disciplining one's thoughts, companioning with the good - or God-based inspirations, and letting those that were unproductive or base fall away like the wake behind the submarine, became his personal war. 

After returning to the States and with his beloved Marianne at his side, they "built" Sky Valley Ranch for Boys and eventually Round Up Ranch for Girls (both camps sit on the same property and are now coed camps for 3rd - 8th graders and high school age young Christian Scientists) and Cap continued these "watches" with campers and counselors each summer.

Today, we celebrate "Alone with Your Thoughts" at camp one evening around dusk each session.  After an introductory talk by Ranch Director, Alison Peticolas, campers, counselors, and staff quietly find a place alone…under a tree, beside the lake, beneath a wide pastel sky…to think and pray.

Camp is quiet except for the rustle of aspen leaves at the hand of an invisible mountain breeze.  Barn swallows dip and soar, skater bugs skim across the still surface of the lake like tiny Olympians gliding over the changing reflections of a salmon and lavender night sky cradled in the arms of the Sleeping Indian Range and Mts. Princeton, Harvard and Columbia.

There are no iPods, cellphones, books, or Gameboys.  One may bring a journal and pen to record their inspirations, but as Alison reminds us, "this is about alone with your thoughts" not the thoughts of another writer or thinker….no matter how inspired.  This is time alone with God and as she goes on to remind us, "we crave it…we need it".  And we do.

This is my favorite part of camp.  It is holy.  It is a sacrament unlike any other.  It is "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace" (my favorite definition of sacrament) that leaves me filled with an awareness of God's living, breathing, palpating presence - not only within my own consciousness, but in everything around me - unparalleled by any other spiritual practice.

Campers, counselors, and staff have often shared that they have come away from their one hour "Alone with Your Thoughts" sober, refreshed, less empty, awake, certain of God's "realness", happy, hopeful, with a new sense of purpose…healed of hate, resentment, fear, listlessness, injury, exhaustion, illness, doubt…committed to be better sons and daughters, neighbors, friends, global citizens. 

No other one thing seems to have a greater impact on us than committing to, and spending, one hour alone with our thoughts…alone with Mind in a temple of trees, under a dome of sky and stars, listening to a choir or leaves.   In this holy sacred space of sixty minutes I am aware of what is always true…

"…You fill up my senses
Like a night in the forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again.

Come let me love You
Let me give my life to You…"

In giving my life to Him, in letting myself love Him by seeing Him in all things…all day…I am filled over and over again…filled to overflowing with love for God and His creation…all of His creation…including you.

Try taking an hour "Alone with Your Thoughts" wherever you are…with Love,
Kate