Staying with the Sisters: Week Two Recap

**I’m sorry for the lack of pictures on this post! We weren’t allowed phones during Camp so pictures were pretty scarce.**

An army of tents overlooked the lake when I raced into camp after a weekend spent at a conference with Sister Traci. I had missed my girls dearly (especially Clair who arrived when I was gone) and I was ready to jump feet first into Camp Marian. The girls and I had been preparing for Camp part of the previous week and we were excited to see how everything would turn out. Let me tell you, Camp was a blast!

There was excitement and bonding, and it was all fueled from Sisters T and Jill, who led us all in crazy games and humble prayer. They taught the girls the importance of love and cooperation through each rotation of games and activities. The theme was “Go Make a Difference” and they showed us how to make a difference, even if it was just a tiny action each day, like recycling. It was here that I began to see how the sisters brought the Benedictine way into their everyday lives.

One activity in particular really managed to stay with me. Sisters Corda and Catherine were giving the girls a quick break from the fast paced rotations to show the importance of making a difference in the world. Sister Corda told a story about a boy who stood along a beach full of washed up starfish. He walked along the tide line, throwing starfish back into the water one at a time. A man stopped by him and asked the boy why he was even attempting to save them if he was never going to get all of the starfish back to safety. The boy picked up another, threw it back into the sea, and said, “It made a difference for that one, didn’t it?”

At the time, I didn’t really think of this as out of the ordinary. It was a nice story that told kids that even the smallest things, like helping your mom do the dishes, can change a bit of the world. But I started to realize that there was bigger picture that I wasn’t quite seeing.  No one has to change the whole world at once. That is too big a feat for anyone. Sister Catherine explained that we just have to change the corner of the world that you control, and eventually, together, the whole world can change.

That’s what we were doing at Camp Marian that week. The sisters and the five of us were making a difference in the lives of these girls. Even if we only had the campers for three days, and the counselors for five, we were giving these girls the opportunity to see the world and God the same way the sisters do.

And of course, what is work without a little bit of play time? Once Camp was over and all of our little girls were sent home, all of the leaders and counselors went on a trip to Holiday World. It was here that we truly saw the fun-loving side of the sisters. T went on every single roller coaster with us. Jill went down all the waterslides, to the point that she accidently got hurt on one of them. Even then, she was with us as we spent time together in the lazy river, just catching up on our sunshine.

Sister Jill would only go on the spinning rides with us.

T and Jill regaled us with stories about the other sisters taking trips to Holiday World, to St. Louis for Cardinal games, and various others. These sisters party as much as they work, and they work a lot. And through it all, they uphold their Benedictine tradition of love and good zeal, so that they can show others what a great time loving God can be. That is how they are changing their corner of the world.

Thanks for listening,
Tory Lanaghan 

Romans 12:2 -- Do not conform to the pattern of this world,but be transformed the the renewing of your mind.Then you will be able to attest and approve what God's will is - his good pleasing and perfect will.