As we [parents] lay out a plan for our children’s education, many of us look for opportunities (experiences) that will help shape their hearts as well as their minds.  Why do we do this?

 
For many of us, a Truth, which was counter-intuitive when we were younger, has become obvious, as we have grown older.  That Truth is this: In the end, it is our heart that determines to what use we put everything that comes into our lives.

Our health, educations, intellectual gifts and all the material benefits that flow from their confluence become subordinated and directed by the “whims” of our hearts.  It is for good reason that we are told to “...guard our hearts...” for our hearts become the “masters” of our lives.

For this reason, it is the heart that has the greatest need for training, and camp, in particular resident camp, may offer today’s best source of this kind of education.  Why is this so?

I remember my first summer at camp.  When my parent’s car disappeared, I, for the first time in my life, felt the weight of responsibility that came with the freedom to find my own way.  My parents and school had given me many freedoms.  But, as long as my parents had been present, this weight and joy could not be transferred to me.

As parents, we hold such power that our mere presence, or even proximity, casts an umbrella over our children.  It was the sight of their car disappearing down the camp road that freed me from the shelter of that umbrella and bound me to the responsibility that ensued.

Since I had only been signed up for half season, my parents arrived four weeks later, on parents weekend, to bring me home.  Though I was happy to see them, and was looking forward to show them the new things I had learned, there was something else on my mind.  I was hoping to convince them to let me stay for the rest of the season.

Chick BeVier, Exec. Dir. Camps Eagle Wing and Eagle Feather