Summer's Peril and Promise

     Tomorrow is the first day of June.  Ahh, can't you feel your shoulders relax the tiniest bit and your breathing slow imperceptibly?  O how I love summer.  I love the heat.  I love the verdant mountains and the undulating waves of the sea.  I love my hometown Raleigh when lots of folks leave, and the city empties and breathes deeper.  I love the calmer pace, the shorter lines, the diminished traffic, and the longer moments to read and watch movies and chat.  I love sitting on the porch in the mountains, hearing the silence, and watching the butterflies and humming birds and swallows dip and soar.  And I love the summer memories that fall gently on my heart--memories of vacations with my family, memories of my children as toddlers at the baby pool, memories of our summer wedding, memories of hard fought tennis games with my parents and siblings, memories of the smell of fresh cut grass or melting purple popsicles or sweetly scented gardenias or Yum Yum's banana ice cream.

What a gift the seasons are!  How thankful I am that we know and serve a God who not only loves beauty but also creates and enjoys infinite variety and change.  Just when we think we can stand winter's icy blast no longer, spring arrives, dancing in skirts of embroidered flowers and warmth.  And then the pure heat and relaxation and strength of summer barges in with joy and confidence.  Right about the time the unrelentingly scorching days have us wilting, the first draught of cool autumn days with refreshing breezes and blowing leaves, revives us.  I love fall... until that first, peaceful, pure white snowfall reminds me of the Savior's purity and the beauty of God's creation in winter.  And so it goes: another year of our Creator's extravagance and glory.  

But for now, Father, thank You for summer!  And for the promise (and hope!) of reading more books with the children, sharing more meals, slowing down and really sharing with the people we love, and truly seeing and experiencing and expressing gratitude for God's myriad gifts in our lives--from creation to people to common everyday graces.  

And for the prospect of spending more time with Him.  Time unharnessed from rushing and deadlines and to do lists.  Time to worship and know and love Him.  Time to listen.  Time to thank.  Time to ponder.  Time to wonder.   

Summer's danger for all of us, however, is that with this season's beauty and pace, we can fall away from Him rather than fall closer into Him.  "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.  Prone to leave the Lord I love," we might sing with summer's temptations to laziness and lassitude.  Bible studies are over till the fall; Sunday school is on hiatus.  The beaches and mountains beckon, and we can lapse into indifference towards the Word which leads to an increasingly weak and shallow soul.

May it not be so this summer!  Make it your goal these next 3 months to grow closer to the Creator and more in love with His Word.  Whatever it takes: wake up a few minutes earlier.  Open the Word at dinner to share some verses.  Listen on your iPod to His wisdom.  Read a new devotional with your children.  Pause, cease at some point everyday to be still and know that He is God, that He is right there with you, and worship Him in those little everyday moments.  

And just in case you need a little inspiration,  here is some encouragement from John Piper on the power and potential of summer (some good stuff!):

"Every season is God's season, but summer has a special power.

Jesus Christ is refreshing, but flight from him 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 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. That’s what summer is: God’s messenger with a sun-soaked, tree-green, flower-blooming, lake-glistening letter of love to show us what he is planning for us in the age to come — “things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). 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, picnics, softball, long walks, and cookouts. He invites us in the summer: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). This is serious summer refreshment.

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, RSV). One of the reasons to give the Lord special attention in the summer is to say to him, 'We want all your refreshment. We really want it.'"

Yes, Lord, we want it and, and we pray by Your infinite power that You would make it be so in all our lives this glorious summer!   To the God of all refreshment and beauty and seasons and summer, be all the glory.