SUMMER 2002
Dear Parents,
CEDARS’ 41st summer is in full swing and is “full of sap!” (as prophesied in a recent Responsive Reading) By 9:30pm of arrival Sunday your camper’s cabin picture was posted on CEDARS website, www.cedarscamps.org (Check it out for frequent updates, including activity schedules and mets as well as for ideas and citations behind the “5 Shining Life Gifts” that we are giving to your campers.) Our second session campers and staff are a delightful, God-sent group! CEDARS 60-some horses, resurfaced waterslide, Aquatic Center, rope swing and other Crown Lake activities are huge hits as are a score of new challenge courses elements, like the “smiley face” and long zipline. Activity excellence is soaring with awesome upgrades to our nature, crafts and canoeing programs. CIP and Jr. Leadership groups have loved all day ski trips on our 5 tournament-quality ski boats. Soccer Campers, Drama Campers and Adventure Riding Campers are all thriving in their specialties as they receive coaching from top-notch experts. It’s thrilling to watch all of our dear campers splash, swim, ride, play and grow together spiritually. With days in the 80’s, nights in the 60’s, and just enough rain, the weather has been ideal also! But, it’s truly CEDARS atmosphere of putting “living love” into action that will make 2002 our “best summer yet!”
Our staff has been studying the Sermon on the Mount and applying it by sharing the “Son-shine of the Christ” through CEDARS “5 Shining Life Gifts.” (See another metpage with study citations.) When your campers come home, you can help make sure they use (and so keep) these gifts: 1) how to fully feel God’s love; 2) how to put prayer into practice; 3) how to be a constantly optimistic problem-solver; 4) how to feel free & succeed in familiar & unfamiliar situations; 5) how to be constantly good-humored & unselfish.
Graciously receiving these gifts, your children are thriving beautifully and proving that God, the sustaining infinite, guides and cares for them even when they’re “on their own” – without Mom or Dad’s immediate presence. You parents can play an important role by daily joining us in a Prayer Watch to affirm your campers’ protection and guidance. (See P.S.) In the past dozen summers, after starting this extra measure of loving preventative work, there has been a wonderful increase in overall camp harmony and a marked decrease in curative efforts needed at PAL House.
In this spirit, CEDARS is requesting that parents continue to give loving attention to their children who are at camp and continue to pray for them daily. You can participate by taking a minute or two each waking hour to affirm God’s protection, all-presence and goodness expressed in and around your child. This is what we do in our mini-metaphysicals before each activity at CEDARS. Right now, every hour, why not treat yourself and all your tasks to such a “met,” like we do. You, too, have a divine right to the supreme happiness that comes from this “way of holiness.” (Isa. 35)
While your children are at camp, know each day that only God, good, is “on the field” and that the children are at peace, comfortable and confident, expressing the full spectrum of God’s gifts to His beloved children – such as alertness, joy, ability, strength, health, love.
Just as when our children are at home, we are attentive to their needs; so when they are away, we continue our duty to nurture them. Each hour of prayer and nurturing will be a wonderful time
of discovery, of peace and of freedom. It is also a generous contribution, not only to your child and
to Cedars, but also to all children and all mankind.
Wishing you a summer full of daily, heart-warming celebrations of freedom and of good,
Warren Huff, Executive Director
P.S. In addition, one parent has lovingly suggested that while your children are at camp, we have a 24-hour-a-day Parent Watch – for those of you who can participate. One way to do this would be to find the first letter of your last name beside an hour of the day in the list below. Please watch with us one hour – the hour assigned to you (whenever you begin). Each successive day, please move down one hour, as we rotate the watch. So, if your last name begins with H like ours, please pray with us the first day between 9 and 10 p.m.; the second day between 10 to 11 p.m.; etc.
A=2-3 pm, (Cedars Times) B=3-4 pm, C=4-5, D=5-6, E=6-7, F=7-8, G=8-9, H=9-10, I=10-11, J=11-12, K=12-1 am, L=1-2 am, M=2-3am, N=3-4 am, O=4-5 am, P=5-6 am, Q=6-7am, R=7-8 am, S=8-9, T-V=9-10, U-V=10-11 am, W=11-12, X-Y=12-1pm, Z=1-2 pm
Many of you may have schedules that won’t allow you to conform to the chart exactly. Some may have to set an alarm to watch and pray in the middle of the night. Seeking the spirit of daily cherishing God’s care for our children is more important than following the chart to the letter. But thanks for being receptive to watching with us an hour each day. Those of us willing to sacrifice an hour of sleep can rejoice in Mary Baker Eddy’s statements: “The highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint, is in holy work.” And, “The consciousness of Truth (C.O.T.) rests us more than hours of repose in unconsciousness.” (S&H 519:28 and 218:7).
To help you affirm “All is well” during your “mets” and watches, there are mets on our website to help, as well as these ideas and citations that you may wish to explore and cherish with us:
1. God’s guidance in the founding and naming of CEDARS (Ps 92: 12-13 & Ps 104:16-17 in the RR) and in the articulation of its purpose (Isa 35:2-10).
2. The Passover, whereby, through full obedience to God’s commands, the Hebrews were (and we are) marked, or set apart, and completely protected from all plagues that would attempt to “come nigh thy dwelling” (Ps. 91, all of it). Also, Heb 11:28, John 13:1-17.
3. Listen anew to “Home and Heaven are within thee” (a Larry Groce tape from CEDARS) and joyfully affirm the truths sung in the 23rd Psalm and Lord’s Prayer and in Hymns 350, 278, 148, 1, 99, 7 & 207.
4. Give Retroactive Treatments, as needed, to yourself (and yours). Even bad memories are amenable to CS healing. A blessing doesn’t leave a scar. Phil 3:13,14, Eccl 3:15.
5. Think about the reason a CS approach to healing is “faster, higher and stronger” than any other method. Like a Defense Attorney, we treat each individual as an innocent client. The Scientific Statement of Being declares that “All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all” (S&H 468:9-15). Experiencing the infinite difference in our lives is an opportunity to prove the allness of our spiritual being or reflection as God’s perfect, whole, and beautiful child. Our resources are many with which to overcome challenges and claim our true identity – just look at Christ Jesus’ example (Mark 9:35-37).
Remember the Bible promises us:
that God’s creation is done, completely perfect and good, ever unfolding to our perception;
that His Word accomplishes that for which it is sent;
that His Word is made flesh and is provable now;
that His Christ is here, speaking to each of us;
that His will is done in earth, as in heaven.
