Summer's Gifts

     July 2nd.  How on earth can that be?  We have already flown through one whole month of the lazy, luxurious months of summer.  How I love summer... and all the things missing from these three steamy, but O so sweet, months.  Here are just some of the lovely "lacks" of this time of year:  a frantic schedule, regular meetings, lengthy to-do lists of things that must be done now, heavy coats, school traffic, colds and stomach bugs,  carpools, book bags strewn all over the laundry room, homework (I might sing the Hallelujah chorus about this one!), set times where we have to be somewhere or have to leave now now now, regular bedtimes, a sense of urgency, haste and worry, heavy itchy sweaters, runny noses, long waits at the pediatrician's office, having to say "no" awfully frequently (as in "No, we cannot have so and so over" or "No, you cannot stay up and watch the game" or "No, we cannot go get ice cream").  
     Summer is having college children home, smelling suntan lotion, eating watermelon, growing tomatoes, catching fireflies, reading in the sun, enjoying daylight at 8:30 p.m., watching movies, taking children to golf tournaments, sleeping in every now and then, dining with friends on school nights, breathing summer smells like new cut grass or gardenias, listening to crickets, and seeing green leaves and color everywhere.
     What can I say?  I'm a warm weather gal.  Sure, I was just complaining about the 108 degree days, but I'll still take those over the frigid temperatures of January or the dark, depressing late afternoons of February.  Oops, there I go again--ungrateful.  When I once complained that February might be the toughest month of the year--already past all the wonderful holidays of winter, sick and tired of cold weather, and spring seemingly eons away--my youngest child overheard me and took great offense.  "What, Mom?!" he exclaimed,  "I love February!  Remember, there is Valentine's Day in February... and MY BIRTHDAY IS IN FEBRUARY!!  I LOVE my birthday! February is the best!"
     Shame on me--he is right: February is a fine month and full of God's goodness and grace--from the gift of our precious child to the celebration of God's gift of love to the swan song for the gift of winter's brisk cold air that makes you feel awake and alive.  Forgive me, Lord, for forgetting so quickly and falling into that old pattern of discontentment when You have been so extraordinarily generous and kind.
     Nonetheless, though I really LOVE February, I really really really LOVE summer.  Here it is, 3:15 in the afternoon, and I'm not sitting in a carpool line or zooming to drop someone off in time for practice or rushing to the grocery store to pick up a few items for dinner.  Nope, I'm happily sitting here typing and contemplating the joys of summer.  Sigh, life is good.  Granted, I might not be sitting on a beach or a mountain porch or a boat or a European castle, but I'm truly thankful for good old Raleigh, NC.
     How many times have I said it or thought it, but it's just so true: there is nothing like gratitude to transform your attitude.  Before I started writing this, I was feeling a bit out of sorts.  We have all sorts of clutter projects I need to be attacking.  The house seems a bit disorganized and disheveled (that might be a mild understatement.) The weather is still hot.
     But before trying to tackle a  cluttered corner of the house, I decided to sit down and write for a few moments.  Charles Spurgeon once declared that "I pray my way near; then I write my way clear."  Writing allows me to breathe space into my cramped perspective.  And gratitude puts the freshness and life back into that breath.  When we cease our striving and pause to consider what we are thankful for-- right at that very moment--it's as if God suddenly supersedes and replaces our momentary worries and burdens and fills our hearts with joy.  The simplest blessings we had completely taken for granted become illuminated and bathed in the glory of a generous Giver of all good gifts.
     And our perspective is radically transformed--from "life is a grind" into "life is a gift."
     And it is.  Summer is a gift.  And, of course, so is February.  We just need to ask God to give us eyes to see, lips to say thank you, and hearts to spill over with gratitude in His goodness and grace.  He is always working and moving on our behalf.   The question is, will we see it, speak it and spill over with joyful gratitude for it?
     Sure, it's hot today... but this is the only today we'll ever have. "This is the day that the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it." (Ps.118:24)   This is the only TODAY for which to thank God for summer and July and all it's gifts.  Maybe it's time to pray your way near and write your way clear with a summer list of your own.  To God--the Giver, the Creator, the Sustainer of all good gifts--be all the glory.