When I look back in time, these Camp Fire Girls leaders who have impacted my life stand out: Dorothy Nix, Pat Sowers, Wanda Norton, and Nancy Funk; and the Camp Fire Day Camp director Eleanor Lewis; and my mother Eunice Hightower who led my grade school Blue Birds Group.
The Camp Fire Council for many years held camp on an acreage east of town, where we had a council house with a large campfire area, several campsites, a rope bridge, and acres of trees and fields to roam.
At camp I learned these things:
- Self-reliance. The day I chopped down a small tree I began to believe I could do just about anything.
- Independence. I wrapped meat and vegetables in tinfoil and buried it in a hole lined with burning coals. I had to eat what I cooked. I realized I was responsible for my meals; I didn’t have to depend on someone else for a meal.
- The belief of a better tomorrow. We spent the night in a tent listening to the pouring rain, then woke up to sunshine. Things change. There will be bad days, but better days are coming.
These are the values of the Old West, the American experience. Growing up in the 1950’s and 60’s these were the things we absorbed, perhaps unknowingly. Maybe our leaders, schoolteachers, and parents intentionally taught these things, but I think most of us just caught them, rather than being taught them.
I am still self-reliant and independent, but in real life, I have had to learn to rely on others and upon the Lord. When I submitted my life to Jesus and made Him the Boss, Jesus also became a Friend to me, one “who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24 NKJV.
There always comes a time in everyone’s life when circumstances are beyond control, when a person must be dependent on others. What do you do then? If you have no one but the Lord, He is enough.
Hebrews 13:5 says, “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So that we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper: I will not fear.’”
And I still believe the sun will come up in the morning. I believe in a better tomorrow because I believe in God.