Parent Devo - Camp Day 6
What was your most discouraging disappointment? Can you think of a time when you were so excited to share news with someone only to receive disregard? Maybe you can think of a specific example, or you might have a person in your life who always knew how to kill your momentum.
Please don’t be a source of discouragement for your child when he or she returns home from camp.
Your child is wrapping up a long week of camp today. Preparing for the ride back home, your child has great memories but is probably also experiencing some level of exhaustion. Prayerfully, he or she has been radically changed at camp. God has done incredible work in his or her life.
One of the constant expressions heard at camp is a fear of going home. Even in situations where a family is supportive and encouraging, students often fall back into old patterns that don’t focus on Christ once camp is over. For some, it seems easier to follow Jesus at camp than at home. At camp, every single element is crafted
to help point students to Jesus and to relationships that encourage one’s spiritual growth. Going back home is a fearful trek of reemerging to environments more prone to temptation and conflict.
“Your job is to help prepare the landing pad so that what began at camp can continue once home.”
Your student is going to bring back extra responsibility for you but arrayed with a renewed spirit. Your job is to help prepare the landing pad so that what began at camp can continue once home.
When your child comes home, you still have the right to expect honor, but consider how you interact with him or her in the coming hours. If your child has learned to be like Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, the last thing you want to do is to transform into Martha and criticize how he or she isn’t initially meeting your expectations.
Hopefully, your child is pondering spiritual matters at a new level, so don’t greet them with trivial frustrations.
Sure, your son or daughter may still have the same aversion to chores they did before. But don’t let that overshadow the encouragement your child gets from you in the decisions she has made or the support you want her to feel from you in that decision. Your child will need to help unpack and assist in chores, but can you make the main thing the main thing? Discover what Jesus did in your child’s life before focusing on temporal issues. In their excitement of what God did, you want to fan that flame (2 Tim. 1:6) and encourage that growth.
Celebrate — What are some ways you can be intentional to celebrate what God did at camp? What open-ended questions will you ask that can get beneath the surface?
Contribute — What are some ways that you can contribute to the continual work in your child’s life? How do you think you can show that you prioritize the most important thing?
Jesus changed your child’s life at camp this week. The good thing is that He comes back with your child on the van home. You want to encourage His work as your child comes home. Maybe he or she doesn’t need to fear reentry because you have created such a warm, inviting atmosphere to talk about the training and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4).
PRAY
As you pray for physical safety for the journey home, also pray for spiritual stability once you are reunited. Ask God to show you how to avoid stirring up anger in your child. Pray that He would show you how you could continue the growth at camp once your child comes home.
Hopefully, your child has learned how to dwell closer to Jesus this week. Maybe you have too. Let’s be diligent in creating a home environment that continually fosters that connection.
This devotional is adapted from FUGE’s Parent Devotions. You can find the complete resource here.
