Forbearance

Hello again, sweet friends! This week, we are going to be continuing with our fruits of the Spirit series. This week, as you can probably tell from the above photo, we will be talking about forbearance.

Now, if I’m completely honest, I actually had to spend a lot of time studying out forbearance so I could have a better understanding of our topic for this week. I’ll quote as I go along, but a lot of what I learned came from the scriptures outlined in this article.

So, forbearance. As we see above, forbearance is defined as patient self-control, restraint, and tolerance. It is also shown in the Bible as being merciful towards those that provoke you, or as bearing with those that hurt us in the same way that God bears with us.

While studying out forbearance, two things kept popping into my mind: The cross study that we do on Thursday at camp, and the way Mr. Jeff has taught us as campers and counselors to treat each other, oftentimes leading by example.

For this, I’d actually like to share a personal example. Over the summer, while Camp was going on, I, and a few other counselors went to a baptism- but here’s the catch. We failed to communicate properly and missed the counselor training that’s scheduled for every Sunday morning after church. As full time counselors, we set a pretty poor example for other counselors and missed out on the opportunity for some good learning.

Now, rather than blowing up at us or doling out a punishment, Mr. Jeff both explained to us what went wrong and empowered us to be better all in the same conversation. If I’m being honest, I’ll never forget how his reaction called me higher and made me feel loved all at once. Thanks to Mr. Jeff following Christ’s example in forbearance (and love), everyone was able to move forward in a righteous manner.

The Cross is a profound example of how Jesus bore with us. For as long as I can remember, Thursday’s have been specifically set aside at Camp to teach all of us about what happened at the Cross. We get to learn about how Jesus took the punishment that was meant for us simply because He loves us.

I think forbearance can be found in a lot of different aspects of Camp. Take the younger campers and first time campers for example. I remember when I was 9&10 and still learning about how Camp works. As we’re learning, it’s to be expected that we’ll make mistakes every now and then- but that’s another great thing about Camp. We take time to explain why certain rules are in place, and this helps everyone to keep the Camp that we love so much safe.

The more I study out the fruits of the Spirit, the more I realize how precious Camp is. These things are what I think of when I think about forbearance at Camp, but how about you? In what ways do you think forbearance presents itself at Camp?

Well my friends, that’s all for me this week! It seems like it’s finally starting to get cold, so make sure to bundle up and be safe! I love you all, thank you as always for reading!

Much Love,

Bri <3