Have you started yet?
A few years ago, my brother, Cheyenne, posted a memorable picture of himself swimming up out of a pool with his mouth wide open like he was about to take a giant bite. His caption read: “I’m eating summer.” I hope you are able to do that this year too.
Whether or not you are fortunate enough to have an official summer vacation, I hope you will be able to savor the taste of evening walks, bicycle rides, warm morning devotions, day trips to Newport Beach, and moonlit moments under a Tiki Torch.
Summer is a complex season. For some, it is so busy that it’s gone before it even begins, while for others it is a crash pad for recouping from a year of overcrowded schedules and workloads. Some people hang all of their annual hopes for fun on a measly one or two-week getaway, while others expect the whole season to be exotic, tropical, and memorable, while still remaining affordable.
We sure put a lot of pressure on our summers.
I think our summers might be a little healthier if we approached them with some specific objectives. Here are a few of my thoughts, and then I would love to hear yours.
1. Stay on mission even while you take a break. Even amid fun, let’s never forget our calling to love and serve our world.
2. Don’t let the mission keep you from taking a break. Rest was God’s idea; enjoy it.
3. Practice moderation without regret.
4. Drink deeply of the present moment.
5. And finally, wherever you are, whatever your means, and whatever you are living through, do your best to take a bite of summer every day.
I have some dear friends who are raising an older, special needs son, and last week for Mother's Day, the father of this special son shared with me a letter that he had written a few years earlier for the son's mom.
The son is not able to verbally express his deep love and appreciation for his mom, so the dad wrote a Mother's Day tribute on the son's behalf. Please read it, weep, be inspired, and forward it to anyone you know that might be strengthened by it. Other than removing names, this letter is unedited.
Dear Mom,
Even before God made me, He knew of all the difficulties and trials I would face. He knew of my illnesses and deficiencies to be overcome, the teaching, training, modeling, and hard work it would take to allow me to be who I am today. He then had a very difficult task - to select a mother to give to me.
This woman would need lots of special qualities. More than anything else, she would have to be extremely loving because I would be asking so much of her. She would need the patience of Job to deal with my training, many ‘accidents’, waiting in doctors’ offices, and outside bathroom doors. She would have to have wisdom both in how to handle me and also to know when a doctor’s diagnosis didn’t ring true.
She was going to need good medical knowledge because often it was going to be her and not a doctor that knew the most effective course of action to be taken to make me better. She would have to listen to me and treat me with dignity and respect so I could grow and feel self-worth. She would have to learn from each experience we went through in order to make good future decisions and also comfort others she found in similar situations.
She would need to be kind, compassionate, generous, silly, hard–working, honest, sincere, determined, friendly, have an awesome sense of humor, and be an all-around terrific person for she was to be my role model. She would need to be a great teacher as I am not a normal child. It would be critical for her to have a great walk with the Lord, for often He would be the only one she could turn to.
She would have to have a true servant’s heart, always placing my needs above hers. She would need the stamina of a m
AMEN!
Lovely message …one I need to work at. As you say, with all of today’s physical comforts, it’s easy to lose focus. Disciine and sacrifice do seem to sharpen focus …at least in my case. Thanks Chris, excellent as usual.
I like John. My spouse also thinks I am an excellent candidate for a monk as (she thinks) I could easily live in a cave for months at a time.
Awesome, Chris! I totally agree! This was an encouragement to me!
Always inspiring