Sensational Summer

Sensational Summer…Priorities

I went for an early morning walk yesterday with my three young children..and our dog, and I knew summer had arrived. Our dog loves to walk, and he gets walks-occasionally- during the school year, but in summer oh! he gets walks almost every morning. My son and I started the walk-with-dog-and-mommy routine the day after he finished kindergarten; he rides his bike, I walk the dog. Since that time, my son’s two sisters have joined us for these walks that only happen in the summer.

I am a school teacher/mom by profession, so my summers have the potential to be carefree, fun, and free of work. Summer signifies, for most, a loosening of responsibilities. Many families and individuals vacation, take picnics, hike, eat outside for their meals, and generally endeavor to put more play into their lives during the summer months; they experience a sense of freedom that is not encountered at any other time of year.

However, as much as we desire to shirk some responsibilities for summer freedoms, priorities must be placed upon our summer lest we miss important opportunities for spiritual, relational and physical growth.

It is so easy to get caught up in the “doing” of summer that the everyday “living” gets trampled. One area that I have the tendency to trample is meeting daily with Jesus. I wake up, workout, walk the dog…and soon its lunchtime and I still haven’t met with my Lord. So I think, I’ll do it when I give the kids “room time”. However, I get side tracked working on the computer, tidying the house, or perhaps taking a nap and then the kids are up doing activities until dinner time. Matthew 22:37 says, “And He replied to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind (intellect)” (amplified). If I love the Lord with all my heart, soul and mind, I need to give him some time each day before I “do” life and miss out on a golden spiritual nugget.

It is also so easy to get caught up in the “play” of summer that my time with just those important people in my life goes by the wayside. Summer can be a great time to connect with your kids, or those who have been placed on “hold” (yes- work and daily life forces me to do that!). But, if I’m filling my time with this and that, the “holding” pattern will continue and summer will slip by without relational connections. And in missing out on these connections, we potentially miss out on opportunities to share Jesus and what He’s been doing in our lives with others.

Finally, we can get so caught up in the “go-go-go” of summer that we neglect our physical bodies. It is easy to justify not taking 30 minutes to exercise because we think, “I’m doing this activity, which is physical, therefore, I don’t need to workout”. I’m guilty of this justification, but in justifying, I miss out on health opportunities both physical and mental.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says that there is a season and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven. This summer, prioritize. Summer is short, but so full of opportunity to get to know our Jesus deeper, build relationships, and become healthy.