Retreat Report

posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
This was my reward for rising early for a little QT on the balcony of our lodge:
It's a pity the swirling of the mist can't be seen; it was a gorgeous, peaceful, satisfying few moments before I had to wake the girls up.

There is a story behind the ribbons; a story of God's grace. The red ribbons represent second place in the human video competition. Now, this group of girls is VERY sanguine; practices were almost like trying to corral and coordinate a bunch of puppies. We had a couple of run-throughs before we left church Thursday morning; none of them were really satisfactory. It wasn't that it was so difficult; the girls just didn't seem to see the need to focus on what they were doing. It had been the same at the competition at our local level, but because they were the only ones competing in their age group they advanced to the state level. I had no idea how they would do on stage at the retreat.

But they walked on grace, and pulled together to do the best presentation they'd ever done. First place went to a graduating high school senior who did an amazing presentation about an old man who looked back over wrong decisions in his life and just rejoiced that he had finally learned that God was trustworthy; it was on a whole 'nother level than any of the rest of the entries (the 'rest' were two other groups plus our girls). I was tickled that they placed second, but to be truthful, I really was mostly proud of them for finally getting it and focusing on what they had to do.

They will get to do the video at least one more time; our end-of-the-year advancement program for all the girls ministries will be August 6, so all the girls in the class will get a chance to be part of it. It's a Barlow Girl song, Mirror, Mirror, and participation in the video was the project for our unit of study on Peer Pressure; the point of the video as they presented it is about not using your peers as the reflection of who you want to be. It's a great lesson for junior high girls...shoot, that's a great lesson for anybody!