a lesson from lifeguarding

(last fourth of July)

Today is July 4th, one of the best days at camp. We all dress up and speak in really country accents and do things that americans would do, like play baseball and love America.

Anyways, this morning as I was sweeping the sidewalk I realized how cool it is that we prep the waterfront before the campers get there. We do this everyday. We sweep the sidewalk, rake the beach, get water for the day, put the sunscreen out, skim the lake, get rid of hundreds of spiderwebs with a bat, rake and sweep the steps, etc. We take time to make it look nice. It is a cool ritual.

My mornings consist of putting in contacts, putting my bathing suit on, getting my whistle and going to breakfast and of course getting my cup of coffee. If you are reading this and you work with me at camp, or you have seen me in the morning, you know that I function much better when I have had my coffee.

Then I go to the waterfront, do a devotion, do chores, and then we do fitness. So not only do we get the waterfront ready for kids, we work on our own bodies to make sure that if a kid needs help, we have prepared. We practice rescues, others we swim laps, and sometimes we do ab workouts (I mean we have to wear swimsuits ya know?). These things take us almost an hour, but by the time the kids come we have already been in the water and are ready with as much energy as we can gather to give them a great experience in the water.

I think the main thing that makes our waterfront different is the time we take to get ready. I need to apply that practice of preparing myself for the waterfront, into the rest of my life. I need to wake up and spend time with God and making my bed wouldn't hurt me either. I suppose my challenge for the week is to not just see these lessons in my job, but actually integrate them into the rest of my life.

Happy America Day!

Corrie