Okay, I love, love, love summer--warmth (no freezing feet and hands--Hallelujah!); beauty (flowers everywhere, trees bursting with bright green leaves, birds and butterflies--life explodes all around us!); trips to wondrous places (for us, the mountains--God's handiwork everywhere!--or the beach or wherever it is folks go); more relaxed schedules (hopefully more time to read!); and, of course, ideal ice cream eating weather.
But the "more relaxed schedules" part is where I tend to get into trouble. Because that can also translate into laziness...or lethargy...or plain old wasted time. That relaxed schedule can cause things that don't shout at you with urgency to slowly, inevitably get pushed to the back burner. After all, the laundry has to get done. The house must be picked up, The groceries have to be bought.
But what about the truly important things of life? What about the important but not urgent? The life-giving but not loudly-screaming? Like--time alone with the Lord. Time spent pondering His Word. Time savoring the people the Lord has so graciously put in your life.
It's mighty easy to default to a combination of putting out fires and falling into sloughs of lazy inertia (also known as "time wasting!")
Yet that's not how I--or any of us--want to squander our summer, is it? I'm always struck by Annie Dillard's words in her book, The Writing Life: "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time.” And Justin Earley reminds us that "Humans are largely defined by the small routines that make up our days and weeks."
Anybody else beside yours truly need to hear those words?
Yes, summer is glorious...but we still each have twenty-four golden, never-to-be-repeated hours in each of her days. So let's ask God to help us not to squander them.
To drink each precious drop of summer and her hours down to the dregs. To savor summer's beauty and bounty...but also to lavishly love and enjoy our people. And to daily spend time adoring, praising, loving, worshipping, listening to and learning from the Lord who made us, knows us intimately and loves us infinitely.
One more Annie Dillard quote that speaks volumes: "There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to come by. A life of good days lived in the senses is not enough. Who would call a day spent reading a good day? But a life spent reading is a good life."
Amen! So today, put away your cell phone! A day here..and there...and there spent meandering through instagram and twitter does not add up to a good life. Cast aside your to-do list, at least for a little while. I promise, it will still be there when you get back! Forget returning all those emails for a bit. People will live if they have to wait a few hours to hear from you.
Instead, sit down. Close your eyes, and talk to Your Lord, Your Savior, Your Redeemer, Your Champion, Your Sustainer, Your dearest Friend. He's ready and waiting. No telling what pearls He has for you.
Then, open His love letter to you. His words of wisdom. His encouragement. His empowerment. His revelation of Who He is and what He's doing--His eternal, supernatural Word. Ask Him to speak to you and to open your eyes to behold wondrous things from His Word. (Ps.119:18)
And don't forget to notice the beauty all around you--and give Him glory and thanks!
Finally, love and enjoy the people He's so extravagantly and generously placed in your life. Time spent loving others is NEVER wasted. Never, ever, ever. As I once read "Love God. Love others. The end." Yep, that pretty much covers it.
How will you spend your hours this day? Each and every sixty minutes are priceless gifts from the God who loves you. Let's spend them wisely and well this summer.
To God be the glory.
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