Summertime

We have been gone more than we have been home in the past two months.  In that time we also bought a house and will be moving the end of July.  It's been a pretty full few weeks.
I have been taking time to consider my priorities and look for ways to make my spoken priorities match my daily activities!
We can all say what is most important, but would anyone know it by watching our daily lives?
I tend to be too analytical and too introspective, wondering if I'm doing the right things, pleasing the right people, accomplishing enough work, utilizing my gifts, being a good steward, spending enough time with my kids....why do we worry so much about such things?

Remember when summertime seemed to last forever?  We would spend all day outside, in the woods, at the creek, at the pool.  There was an endless supply of sunshine and free time to enjoy it.  Truly, summertime is exactly the same amount of time today as it was in 1978.  Did you know that?  Now that I live in the south, there is MORE sunshine and it starts getting hot earlier....so technically, it should seem longer, right? What changed?

I did.

Summertime is for slow-paced walks and leisurely talks. Summertime is for late nights in the moonlight and long afternoons in the lake.  Summertime is a time to remember what it feels like to slow down and bask.

How much basking have you gotten in so far this summer?
I stopped considering the vast array of possibilities that lay before me each day and started fretting about the list of have-to-dos that loom.  How much of what I do is urgent and necessary and how much is out of my own need to control results. (not that that ever works anyway.)

Basking in the sun.  ( or even basking in the Son) How about basking in the Son while basking in the sun.  That would be a beautiful way to spend a summer day!

Don't rush through summer.
Don't rush through these weeks, speeding them on past the 4th right to Labor Day weekend and then
wonder what happened to the summer!
I read this recently:

A well-known pastor was once asked what was his most profound regret in life?  “Being in a hurry.” That is what he said.  “Getting to the next thing without fully entering the thing in front of me. I cannot think of a single advantage I’ve ever gained from being in a hurry. But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands, lie in the wake of all the rushing.… Through all that haste I thought I was making up time. It turns out I was throwing it away.”

These next two weeks before my next trip, I want to savor each day.  I will log each day here to share with you my not-to-grownup-more-nostalgic-summertime pass times.  I hope that by sharing I will hold myself accountable to it and perhaps inspire some of you to grab the picnic basket and head out to some favorite location....just to do a little basking.  Would love to hear what you might come up with too!

For today: start dreaming of some crazy plans for tomorrow!  Have a blessed day!