Thoughts on a Third Band Camp

It's over!

Thank goodness!

I mean, we learn a lot of great things at band camp and really bond together as a guard and etc.

But I'm really glad it's over.

Every band camp has its challenges. My first year it was physically exhausting, I had to learn a whole new way to do guard. My second year I struggled with the elements, especially the heat. On the blacktop, it would get to about 118 degrees. Sweat just poured everywhere. This year was difficult mentally. The work was easy, the weather was in the 80s, but I was almost crippled by my mind.

Honestly, it was pride. I was a junior. This was my third year of BYU Colorguard. I was in leadership. Thus, I knew everything. So when my coach changed the counts to a move in pre-game, I was offended. How dare she do that! There were lots of moments like that which irked me.  Instead of having love towards others, I was pretty bitter.

But my pride taught me a lot-- once I realized how prideful I was being. On Thursday, the Band Leadership Corp President shared a thought that really struck me. She had us read 1 Corinthians 13 which talks about Charity. It lists the charateristics that a charitable person has and I was failing in almost all of them. For example, long suffering? You bet I was complaining out there on the field, though mostly in my head. Not easily provoked? Ha! See previous paragraph. But the point made in chapter 13 is that without charity, all we do is for nothing. So although I might do well on a routine, it meant nothing if I was grumpy and annoyed. Yeah, I'm on band leadership, but without charity, that didn't mean anything in the eternal perspective.

When I was a teenager, my dad put a quote in my room about attitude. It said that 10 percent of our life is what happens to us, the rest of the 90 percent is how we react to what happens to us. True words. Attitude is essential. I would also like to add motives. In the eternal perspective, 10 percent of our lives is what we actually do, while 90 percent is what motivated us to act. Why we do the things we do is the determinant on the status of our heart.  If our actions are driven with love(charity), then we are on our way to be like Christ and receive celestial glory. But if our actions are based on selfishness, we need to change our ways. Cleaning our motives is one of those lifelong challenges, but we can start now. And the best part of it, we may fail a lot as we work to clean our motives and become charitable, but that will  not diminish the love that our Father in Heaven has for us. He always loves us. How powerful is that?


I know that I've been kind of a downer of band camp, but there were some AWESOME moments! Check it out!