Daily Devotion

Camp Luther 
66 wooded acres along the shores of Lake Erie 
Stunning view with sensational sunsets
Hiking trails, sport fields 

Lutheridge Camp & Conference Center
160 acres in Arden, NC
Scenic, mountain setting    
Hiking trails, canoeing, rock climbing

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

The Five Senses of Camp – Smell

If you don’t have any cans on your porch, add “OFF Family Care” bug spray to your current grocery list. If you do have some, spray a quick spritz on you as you read this devotion. THIS is the smell of camp for me. No matter where I am, who I am with or what we are doing, when I get a whiff of this particular brand of bug spray, I am immediately transported to the porch at Kohnjoy lodge at Lutheridge or at outdoor chapel at Camp Luther. While bugs are a part of God’s glorious creation, no one wants to be itchy all week at camp.

Why does the smell of bug spray instantly remind me of camp? A quick Google search explains that scents bypass the thalamus and go straight to the brain's smell center, known as the olfactory bulb. The olfactory bulb is directly connected to the amygdala (responsible for emotional processing) and hippocampus (responsible for memory), which might explain why the smell of something can so immediately trigger a detailed memory or even intense emotion.

And I have so many great memories of camp:

• Mealtime Announcements at Camp Luther
• Outing Day to the Blue Ridge Parkway at Lutheridge
• Elliot falling asleep eating French fries at the lunch table
• Upper Crafts where all the adults are crafting just as intensely as the kids
• Eating breakfast by candlelight when there was a camp-wide power outage
• Family reflection time as part of Camp Luther Closing Worship

I could easily keep adding to this list and am sad that I won’t add any new camp memories to this list in 2020. I am grateful that I have so many happy memories of camp to sustain me through this summer of no camp and thankful that something as simple as a scent of bug spray can remind me of camp and to whom I belong.

But now thus says the Lord,
   he who created you, O Jacob,
   he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
   I have called you by name, you are mine. 
² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
   and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
   and the flame shall not consume you. 

-Isaiah 43:1-2