The Super Power of Summer
Summer. There’s just something about. . .
Silent School Bells.
Staying up Late.
Sleeping In.
Sipping Lemonade.
Schedules Tightly Adhered to from Labor Day to Memorial Day, Abolished.
Should’s turned to Shant’s.
S’mores, and. . .
Stories.
Stories on the deck from relatives alive before us—who knew our parents when we weren’t yet here. They recall what our parents were like as an aunt and uncle, their favorite fishing spots, and how being on the Navy ship made your dad claustrophobic.
There’s just something about Summer that makes us feel. . .
more free
more connected
more fully alive
more apt to gauge approximate time from the sun than precise time from the clock.
There’s just something about all this and more that makes us wish it could last longer.
And my 10-year-old grandson helped me better understand. . .
At the culmination of his lake-life week with us, we pulled out the “cabin journal.” The loon covered notebook is where, year after year, everyone writes down their favorite memories and highlights of that summer’s lake-time. He and his brothers took their turns before piling in the vehicle for annual good-bye tears. (Leaving the water is always hard; Saying “Good-bye” to grandkids is a million times harder).
When I came back in the cabin and picked up the journal, I was struck by his entry. His first and favorite thing was simply “Time with family.” Time with family. This 10-year-old boy simply enjoyed being together.
Life at the lake is pretty simple: watches are ignored, big breakfasts are late, hoops are played on over a ½ century old cracked and sandy shuffle-board turned basketball court, fishing lines are cast morning, noon, and night, sunny afternoons mean floating on the raft, and rainy afternoons are prime for covered-porch card games.
Yet it seemed that this slow-pace was just fine by our grandson.
Which made me consider. . .
Summer’s “Super Power” might just be in its simplicity –
How it causes us to pause and revel in Psalm 46:10’s beckoning to “‘Be still, and know that I am God’” (ESV).
How it reminds us of our mighty Creator, who in Genesis 1:14 declares, “‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth’” (ESV). “Let them be for signs and for seasons.” Our Triune God created seasons; he created Summer. Understandably, the more we’re out in God’s creation, the more mindful we are of him as Creator – and that – that makes everything feel less overwhelming and simpler.
Remembering that God is in control and that he is our “ever-present help” minimizes our worries and calms the complexities of life (Psalm 46:1, NIV). We can take heart, relax in our spirit, and soak up the gift of the season.
Which tells us. . .
The “magic” of Summer isn’t magic at all, but rather an intentioned, pre-established gift from our Creator to us that he knew we’d need and wanted us to have. Wind in our hair, sun on our skin, a simple afternoon, evening, or week with a child in our life—who, quite simply—relishes “family time.”
If time or circumstances haven’t yet allowed us to settle into simple this summer, let’s go to the Lord. Let’s ask him for a little slice of simple before morning school bus sightings and before green leaves turn to yellow, red, and orange.
Maybe our “simple” is where our “someplace to be and something to do” is simply to be with – with HIM, with them. The lake, the farm, the front porch, the church pew, the park, the garden, the hospital courtyard, or wherever this Summer has us.
Maybe our “simple” is just a lingering moment to pray in the sunshine for a grandchild who’s far away—from us, from God—or both.
Maybe it’s in the form of a little more stamina to stay up late catching fireflies.
Maybe its fishing with, baking with, crafting with, building with, or cheering on a grandchild.
Maybe…maybe…it’s simply “family time.”
There’s just something TRUE and REAL about how everything’s better in the Summer…
because HE’S BETTER than anything and everything, and Summer simply has a way of helping us remember that truth. That Simple, Guiding Truth.
Which means. . .
Summer’s “Super Power” simply lies in the ONE who CREATED it.