Farewell to Summer

If there is one thing I absolutely love about living in this area of our great country is the summer season. This year it was really fabulous. I know it might have been too hot for the taste of the life-long residents, but when you’d grown up in a place like my home-country, you know that there are different kinds of heat, and the heat we get around here is nothing like the relentless agony of the humid horror that threatens to swallow you alive down near the Equator.

Anyway, I love the quiet breeze, the lightening bugs, the chirping birds, the woods teaming with life, and all the natural beauty that surrounds us.

Yesterday, to celebrate the official end of summer, we went to a really nice lake nearby. That is probably my most favorite place around here. I love it so much because stepping onto the grassy area to look at the lake is the most effective instant-chillaxation pill I’ve ever found. I’m a beach girl. I grew up near the ocean. But I can’t have that here. However, this lake is a really good substitute. It’s a different vibe than the ocean, though…but the effect in my soul is the same…peace.

And peace is a precious commodity for my soul…one that is often elusive and fleeting. The battle between me and my mind always leave me exhausted. It’s like a race I’m constantly running and often losing. Yesterday, was, however, one of those rare occasions when my soul won and I got to enjoy the precious price of peace, if only for a moment. As I stood in the lake, water above my knees, surveying the gorgeous view, my mind began to formulate a complaint: “why can’t we live by the beach? How can we afford to have a little beach cottage? Why can’t we be free to just enjoy more of what this life has to offer? Why are my dear friends so far away? Why does summer have to ever end?”

I was about to fall into the temptation of negativity and pessimism, when the Holy Spirit rescued me. He planted the thought in my mind that I needed to look up and see what Our Heavenly Father had given me, before I missed it all. He turned my eyes toward the blessings and my thoughts toward the reality that the brevity of the seasons make the most perfect object lesson we could ever hope for. I’m only like 15-20 minutes from this wonderful place. I have been given the gift of good weather to enjoy it, a car to get here and a family to share it with. There is no maintenance or any kind of fee because it is totally FREE!

As for the melancholic feeling that covers my spirit when considering the brevity of summer, well, if it was all year-round, I wouldn’t even notice it. Day by day would go by and I would never see the beauty that surrounds me. I would miss the birds calling. I would miss the smell of the wild flowers. I’d be so bored with it, I’d take for granted the amazing sun flower and the clarity of the sky. I’d be so preoccupied complaining about the sameness of life, that I’d miss the golden sunsets, the warmth on my skin and the constellations above my head.

I’d be so tired of wondering why…I’d miss the gift of grace.

I’m so glad we were able to make it to the lake yesterday. Fall is going to be busy and challenging, so I think that might have been our last visit for the season. But it was a true gift as I was able to really hear the Holy Spirit whispering in my ear and see the reality of His hand in my life.



Once, upon the last day of a golden summer, there were two boys…