Lazy Days of Summer

I’m a Southern girl and so I have a deep love and appreciation for warm weather.  I love to see the sunbeams so early in the morning, to feel the heat on my back, to wear open shoes or none at all, and to spend the day in the water.

But, I must admit that all this time in the sun has made my brain a bit lazy these days.  The deep thoughts and reflections that seemed to be more everyday in the cold dreary days of winter and early spring seem to have disappeared with the frost and darkness.

The great weather and its impact on my ability to think more deeply has called to mind the fact that the hard seasons (the winters) of our lives are often the times when we learn and grow and mature the most. Though we usually dread them and long for them to leave us, it’s the challenging times that really form our character and make us more beautiful.

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:3-5

This was certainly true of the Bible’s Greats:

• Joseph sold as a slave and then imprisoned
• Moses a runaway murderer, then hated and constantly challenged as the leader of God’s people through a crazy journey
• David anointed as King and yet forced to fight for his life and the throne
• And of course, Christ Himself who went through the greatest winter of loneliness, pain, and torment

These and all the others are heroes and examples to us because they endured the hard winters of life. They all had some seasons of fun in the sun, but we read about them and learn from them (and in the case of Christ, worship Him), because of what happened to them in the winter.

I’m loving the summer and soaking up every minute that the sun is out.  But, I’m reminding myself not to dread the return of colder weather and darker days, trusting that God will use those days to grow my roots and deepen me in ways that aren’t always possible when the sun is bright and the clouds are few.

In the meantime, I’m trying to do a few things to get my brain thinking more.  I’ve been working through our summer reading book, YOU CAN CHANGE (more posts on that to come soon), I’ve been listening to an old sermon series by Tim Keller, and I’ve been trying to be more intentional in conversations with my husband and with friends.

How do you keep your brain thinking on things of God when your body is cooking in the sun?

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