Do you have exciting or relaxing plans this summer? Or will your summer be more like the “Summertime Blues?” Looking out my windows the sun is shining and the air conditioner is on. It’s hot and dry and the grass is starting to turn brown. But there is something nice about the change of pace that comes with the heat. With only one child in school—my daughter who’s a rising senior—there isn’t the rhythm of “kids out of school” like there used to be years ago. Sitting in my back yard this morning drinking my coffee, I couldn’t help but reminisce a little about when I was a kid and summertime rolled around. Playing in the woods, not having a schedule, sweating through soccer camps, and catching lightning bugs in the evening. Only summer brings out these feelings and memories.

For some, other than some vacation, there isn’t much of a change in the day-to-day when summer rolls around. Craig Miller’s schedule actually gets busier in June and July with all the planning of logistical details for Youth mission trips. Vacation Bible School is another one of those big ministry tasks that takes a lot of time and energy. (We need volunteers, by the way!) Yes, summertime feels slower, but the reality is that there are still a lot of things going on at the church. They are just different than what we’re used to in the Fall-Winter-Spring. It feels like there’s a little more head-space (“soul-space”?) to think and pray, and read and reflect on “God things.”

For example, having time to do yard work makes me think of my relationship to nature, and therefore, Creation. Planning to see family on vacation makes me think about…well, family and those relationships. It also makes me think about where I need rest, and why, and what I hope to “get out of it.”

But Summertime also reminds me that it isn’t about what I can get out of it. It’s not at the service of my expectations. It just is. And the blessings are there freely to be had. That’s grace.  

Peace, 
Pr. Christian