Like many people, my favorite time of the year is summer. What’s not to like about it? (Other than excessive heat, lawn mowing, weeding, etc.) OK, so it does have a few downsides. But almost all of us would be quick to point out that it has a lot of upsides as well. Long days. Sunshine. Warmth. Green grass. Shady trees. Nighttime breezes. Starry skies. Recreation. Vacation. Yeah, that’s more like it!
I remember when I was a child. Talk about endless summers. Every day was like every other day. Warm. Sunshiny. Nothing to do but play. Punctuated by meals. How cool is that? I would play with my brothers and sisters. Play a pick-up game or two of baseball with my friends. I’d catch butterflies. Climb trees. Count the numbers of airplanes that I saw. Read. Lay in the grass and watch the clouds go by. Then there were those evenings when the Mr Softee truck came down our street. Since we lived in a housing project there were lots and lots of kids. When that truck came down the street parents moaned and children cheered. Your parents didn’t want you to be the only kid on the whole block not to have an ice cream cone. So from somewhere they’d scrounge up a quarter or two and presto, you had your cone. You know, peer pressure works for adults as well!
After I grew up, summers changed. I remember when I finally got my first full-time job out of high school. No more summers off. No more sleeping in. No more doing what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. Now I was at work. Some days I was scarcely aware what the weather was even like. What a bummer. And since I was a new hireling, I didn’t even get a week of vacation that first year. None. I worked the entire summer! Talk about a dose of reality.
Since then, like you, I have tried to enjoy my summers as much as I can. Take a walk in the evening with Beth. Play softball. Sit out on the back deck in the late evening and play my guitar. Make numerous trips to Dairy Queen. The problem is that summers go by so fast. It’s Memorial Day and the whole summer is before you. 2 weeks later it’s July 4th. 2 weeks after that it’s Labor Day. (Not really. But it does seem to go by that fast doesn’t it?)
Thank God for summers! We desperately need them. For many of us it is the anticipation of summer that helps get us through those long, cold, dark winters. I don’t know if this is theologically correct but when I think of Heaven I think of summer. Warm. Bright. Endless. Being with Jesus. Being with my family and friends. I don’t know how much longer it will be until I arrive there. But until then I am going to enjoy my summer. It is one of God’s many gifts to me.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 - “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
Lord, I thank you for the four seasons. I see Your creative hand in each one of them. I especially thank you for summer. A time when I can get outside and enjoy Your creation. I pray that summer can be a time when I relax a little. Recharge my batteries. Spend time with family and friends. Draw closer to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
I remember when I was a child. Talk about endless summers. Every day was like every other day. Warm. Sunshiny. Nothing to do but play. Punctuated by meals. How cool is that? I would play with my brothers and sisters. Play a pick-up game or two of baseball with my friends. I’d catch butterflies. Climb trees. Count the numbers of airplanes that I saw. Read. Lay in the grass and watch the clouds go by. Then there were those evenings when the Mr Softee truck came down our street. Since we lived in a housing project there were lots and lots of kids. When that truck came down the street parents moaned and children cheered. Your parents didn’t want you to be the only kid on the whole block not to have an ice cream cone. So from somewhere they’d scrounge up a quarter or two and presto, you had your cone. You know, peer pressure works for adults as well!
After I grew up, summers changed. I remember when I finally got my first full-time job out of high school. No more summers off. No more sleeping in. No more doing what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. Now I was at work. Some days I was scarcely aware what the weather was even like. What a bummer. And since I was a new hireling, I didn’t even get a week of vacation that first year. None. I worked the entire summer! Talk about a dose of reality.
Since then, like you, I have tried to enjoy my summers as much as I can. Take a walk in the evening with Beth. Play softball. Sit out on the back deck in the late evening and play my guitar. Make numerous trips to Dairy Queen. The problem is that summers go by so fast. It’s Memorial Day and the whole summer is before you. 2 weeks later it’s July 4th. 2 weeks after that it’s Labor Day. (Not really. But it does seem to go by that fast doesn’t it?)
Thank God for summers! We desperately need them. For many of us it is the anticipation of summer that helps get us through those long, cold, dark winters. I don’t know if this is theologically correct but when I think of Heaven I think of summer. Warm. Bright. Endless. Being with Jesus. Being with my family and friends. I don’t know how much longer it will be until I arrive there. But until then I am going to enjoy my summer. It is one of God’s many gifts to me.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 - “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
Lord, I thank you for the four seasons. I see Your creative hand in each one of them. I especially thank you for summer. A time when I can get outside and enjoy Your creation. I pray that summer can be a time when I relax a little. Recharge my batteries. Spend time with family and friends. Draw closer to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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