Last weekend I found myself sleeping on air mattresses, neglecting to shower for three straight days and dancing to Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie” with a serving spoon in my hand. Within days I was transformed from a college freshman with virtually no cooking skills to the overlord of anything involving a spatula or 26 x 18 stainless-steel pan. It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. You may be saying to yourself, “Well, that is strange.” In which case I would respond, “Yes, it is. Welcome to Awakening.”

Nestled away in the (almost) legendary Camp Whispering Pines, Awakening is a haven for all things absurd and beautiful. The absurdity is a mere icing on the cake; the beauty is overwhelming and almost inevitable. It is what happens when 150 people gather together with the sole intention of loving one another. People like to throw around the ambiguous phrase, “God is love,” but so often they miss the important part: We ourselves are the vessels through which this love moves. Awakening was one of my very first encounters with this strange phenomenon: If you really believe that God is love, then let that love happen.

So what does it mean, to let that love happen in a world that seems determined to live without it? Awakening creates a space where this question can be answered. The mouth of the world falls silent (well, apparently with the exception of Shakira) so that God might speak and we might listen. And when you find yourself in a community of a hundred strangers who are listening too, you start to realize that maybe prayer isn’t the 10 minutes you talk to God at night before you fall asleep. Maybe prayer is something that, if we open ourselves up to it, is happening always. Maybe this “God is love” thing is no longer some concept to be talked about, but something to be lived, and every moment is a chance to live it.

On the last day of the retreat, Joe Albin said something that puts it best. The beauty that unfolds at Awakening is not magic (which, let’s just face it, would be a little disconcerting anyway). This beauty is what happens when you put every other person before yourself, and learn what it means to love them.

Anna Schulte is an English writing freshman and can be reached at [email protected]