Whitney Williams - The hard work of happy camping

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, April 5th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Here’s commentator Whitney Williams on the rewards of spending a few nights under the stars—even when the cost seems a little high.

WHITNEY WILLIAMS, COMMENTATOR: We almost gave up on our family camping trip, thinking it might not be worth the effort. The packing list alone left me exhausted—we’d need the tent, five sleeping bags, five pillows, and extra blankets because it was supposed to be cold at night. We’d need cooking supplies, food, s'mores stuff, firewood, clothes for warm weather, clothes for cold weather, fishing poles, hooks, tackle. We’d need an ice chest, air mattresses, charcoal. Our three boys wanted to bring their bikes. How was all of that going to fit in the truck?

To top it all off, the campground was several hours away, weekends are way too short, and some events leading up to our planned departure had left my husband and me extremely frustrated. OK, so we were yelling at one another.

“Why don’t we just stay home?!” he said in frustration.

Taking it as a direct attack, I popped back: “Not hurtin’ my feelings.”

AUDIO: [Sound of boys playing and campfire]

Less than 24 hours later, the tent was staked down, the campfire was crackling, and sounds of boyhood glee flitted up from the nearby river. Smoke from individual campfires melded together in the pine tree tops, accentuating scattered rays of sunlight. My husband and I shared a long, forgiving, and grateful embrace.

AUDIO: [Sound of water running, voices]

And to think, we almost missed it all: Powerful rapids winding through jagged, rocky cliffs, quieter streams speckled with fly fishermen … the beauty of a brown trout—its name betraying its golden belly and bright red spots. We almost missed our twins’ first horseback ride, downed trees doubling as bridges, sharing a cup of percolated coffee and morning breath with nearby campers turned temporary friends.

AUDIO: [Sound of frogs chirping]

I almost relinquished a son of mine falling asleep in my arms, fireside, to a lullaby of chirping frogs, thinking that our camping trip might not be worth the effort.

Throughout the weekend outdoors, I caught my eldest son humming to himself, totally carefree. Worship songs whispered across my lips without thought, my soul stirred by the beauty that surrounded me. In certain moments I thought about nothing at all. I was just there. Fully present, not tempted by the laundry, a list of to-dos, or another episode of Lone Star Law.

Now, don’t get me wrong—the weekend wasn’t totally picturesque. We never showered. The tooth fairy couldn’t locate our tent. Two out of three air mattresses continually deflated. We shivered through the first night and one set of neighbors whooped and hollered into the early hours of the morning. The marshmallows for our smores united as one on the dashboard of our truck and our barbless fishing hooks and neon worms continually hung up in moss covered river rocks. Evenstill, our family couldn’t help but sing God’s praises.

On the drive home, my iPhone selected songs at random for our family to enjoy. “Indescribable” by Chris Tomlin followed by “How Great Thou Art” by Carrie Underwood just about did me in as I recounted scenes from our weekend.

While we drove past farmland and freeways, I looked out the window and wondered: How many blessings do we miss out on because we don’t feel like packing up the figurative truck?

I’m Whitney Williams.

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