The summer mindset

                             A little food for weekend thought--
        At the start of the last couple of summers, I have been convicted and challenged by the words of John Piper.  I've shared them before, but if you are anything like me, we don't so much need to learn shiny new things we've never heard before as we need to be reminded of the important things that we've heard but have forgotten.  For most of us, it's not a failure of knowing enough but a failure of putting into practice what we do know. 
        Ah, but for this we have Jesus.  Thank You, Lord, for grace...and for the wondrous gift of beginning again.  Of picking ourselves up.  Dusting ourselves off.  Fixing our eyes once again on our loving Savior who is leading the way into a new season.  A new week. A new day.  A new start. 
        Aren't you thankful that His mercies are new every morning? (Lam.3:22-23)
        So for this new season of summer--this glorious time of warmth, sunshine, ocean, juicy peaches, mountains, watermelon, movies, slower paces, good books, dancing fireflies, melting ice cream, lingering on porches in the evening--let us not forget to "set our minds on things that are above and not on things that are on earth."  We have to refocus on Him so that we "seek the things that are above." (Col.3:1-2)
        Here are Piper's words--
        "Jesus Christ is refreshing. So, seek the things that are above. Don’t replace Christ this summer with trifles. Flight from Christ into Christless leisure makes the soul parched.
         At first it may feel like freedom and fun to skimp on prayer and neglect the word. But then we pay: shallowness, powerlessness, vulnerability to sin, preoccupation with trifles, superficial relationships, and a frightening loss of interest in worship and the things of the Spirit.
        Don’t let the coming of summer make your soul shrivel. God made summer as a foretaste of heaven, not a substitute.
       If the mailman brings you a love letter from your fiancé, don’t fall in love with the mailman. Don’t fall in love with the video preview and find yourself unable to love the coming reality.
       Jesus Christ is the refreshing center of summer. He is preeminent in all things (Colossians 1:18), including vacations and picnics and softball and long walks and cookouts. He invites us this summer, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
      Do we want it? That is the question. Christ gives himself to us in proportion to how much we want his refreshment. “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).
       Peter’s word to us about this is, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19–20). Repentance is not just turning away from sin, but also turning toward the Lord with hearts open and expectant and submissive.
       What sort of summer mindset is this? It is the mindset of Colossians 3:1–2, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”
       It is God’s earth! It is a video preview to the reality of what the eternal summer will be like when “the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Revelation 21:23).
       The summer sun is a mere pointer to the sun that will be: the glory of God. Summer is for seeing and showing that. Do you want to have eyes to see? Lord, let us see the light beyond the light."
        That's some good stuff...and I sure needed some reminding! 
        Thank You, Lord, for summer. Thank You for the manifold, relentless gifts of this season.  Thank You for time to savor, time to love, time to reflect, time for refreshment.  Enable us daily to seek and set our minds on the things above, even as we enjoy this glorious time of year.  Please help us "to see the light beyond the light."  Even as we bask in the sun, enable us to fix our gazes and our hearts on the true Son, the Creator of that sun and of all the glories of summer.
          So, in case you needed a bit of encouragement like yours truly, can I remind us all--it's just the end of May.  We all have time to begin again, to start afresh for this new season, this new week, this new day ahead of us.  Might we daily adopt the summer mindset--setting our minds on things above.  Because that view will always be glorious.   
          To God be the glory.