Dear Lord,
I know You see all things, so I know You understand this: I am overwhelmed. I don’t know how to pull it all together.
Guide me in my packing. Keep me from getting stuck on decisions that don’t matter — this shirt or that, these shorts or those, four shoes or eight? I will forget something — of course I will — and that is okay, as long as I do not forget why I am packing, why I am leaving and why I am going — because You love teenagers and have called me to do the same.
For these coming days, I will love them at camp, just as I love them here now and just as I will love them when we return.
Help me pack what matters most — patience, laughter, humility, endurance, faithfulness, joy, kindness, discernment and an overflowing measure of Your love.
Be with those I am leaving behind, whether two-legged or four (or two-winged or finned), whether young or old, whether part of my household or part of my community. I carry their love and presence with me.
Be with those I am going alongside, those I know well and those I’ve just met. Form us into a circle of friendship and belonging that welcomes playing and hearing, leaning in and learning, eating and resting, laughing and crying.
Bless this pile of chaos before me, Lord, that somehow must be gathered into a neat and tidy bundle before I depart. Thank You for neatening and tidying the chaos of my own heart when You transferred me from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Your dear Son, into whose image I so desperately want to be conformed.
Amen.
