It all started with sunshine.
The kind of day that makes you think this is exactly why we love camping. Blue skies, a gentle breeze, kids running wild and free, marshmallows waiting for a fire that hadn’t even been built yet. It was the kind of perfect that makes you want to bottle the moment forever.
Then came the thunder.
And lightning.
And a downpour so loud it drowned out all our plans.
With the rain pounding and our tent zipped up tight, we made a quick decision—off to the Geneva Lake Museum. Dry shelter, activities for the kids, and maybe a chance to salvage the day. And it worked...for a while. The scavenger hunt was a hit. The glider kits sparked curiosity. We brought the gliders back to camp thinking, This will keep them busy.
But boredom crept in like the rain outside our tent walls.
“I’m bored.”
“This always happens when we camp.”
Cue the parent instinct to fix everything.
Should we take them to a movie?
Is there a bowling alley nearby?
Maybe a mall just to stretch the time until bedtime?
Then came the whisper—Counsel.
A reminder from family: “Just let them be. They’ll figure it out.”
And then came Understanding—realizing this wasn’t just about boredom. It was about space. About letting them sit in the quiet. About trusting they’d find their way.
So we stopped trying. We sat back. We watched.
And like magic—or rather, like grace—they began to create their own fun.
Umbrellas in hand, they walked the wet paths of the campground, laughed at nothing and everything, played games with water bottles, launched gliders into puddles, and huddled under the canopy watching funny videos, not even realizing they weren’t bored anymore.
Meanwhile, we adults got to work solving the great mystery of rain gutters for tents. Poking the top of the canopy to release pools of water turned into an oddly satisfying event. Water gushed down like a surprise waterfall, and guess what? The kids loved helping. They laughed and enjoyed the splash.
By the end of the day, no one missed the sunshine.That stormy, unexpected, trapped-in-the-rain kind of day became something better: a lesson.
A lesson in letting go.
A lesson in not filling every space with plans.
A lesson in letting the Holy Spirit show up—in boredom, in stillness, in the in-between.
Because sometimes the best way to guide our kids is to give them the freedom to figure it out.
Sometimes, the greatest gifts come through a little rain.
Mama,
Have you ever had a “this trip is ruined or I'm bored” kind of day turn into something beautiful? Drop a ☔ if you've ever been surprised by the Holy Spirit in the middle of the mess. Let’s keep raising kids who can sit in boredom and still find wonder.
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