A Devotion for the Slow Summer Days

There’s something about Memorial Day being the unofficial start of summer that switches my brain into a slower, more beach-focused mode. But alas, while my kids get to enjoy a break, the summer months don’t necessarily mean the same thing for adults (#thingstheydonttellyouingradeschool). Living in Florida, we’re never too far from a beach/lake/river/theme park, and in summer, it can feel like everyone you know is on vacation while you’re not.

The same pull to slow down can also be found in our spiritual lives. During the fall or winter months, especially around more structured seasons of Advent and Lent, I find it easier to practice spiritual disciplines like prayer and studying Scripture. There’s something about these seasons that lend themselves to more discipline and focus for me. Sitting indoors with a mug of coffee, my Bible, and journal sounds appealing and cozy in January. Not so much in July.

So this year, instead of trying to fight the slow days of summer, I am trying to embrace them in all their glory and listen to the unhurried rhythms of crickets at dusk and the afternoon thunderstorms that give solace from the midday sun.

Rather than try to force spiritual disciplines that worked for me in other seasons, I am trying to embrace the practices that this season has for me: stopping to pray when I feel the first drop of rain in a storm, reading a memoir of a spiritual mother or father in the humid evenings on my porch, practicing contemplative prayer during a day at the beach, my breath matching in time with the waves as they break on the shore.

These practices, not better or worse than their more structured cousins, fit the season I find myself in. They allow me to hear and see and feel God in the earth and sky, to not miss the gifts of summer all around me.

Though this week and next might feel a little hurried and rushed as the entire Disaster Recovery Team prepares for Annual Conference, I expect many of you will experience a little bit of a lull in your work come June or July. Maybe, like me, you will find the slow days of summer start to tug at your mind and heart. And maybe in these gentle, long days of summer, you will find God calling you to an unhurried pace of life, even if just for a while.

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.

Matthew 11: 28-30, The Message

So, here’s to the beach; here’s to porch nights with friends and good music; here’s to developing habits of hospitality with your neighbors. Here’s to taking your foot off the accelerator for a short season; here’s to learning to live in the unhurried, unforced rhythms of summer grace with God.

Cheers,

Chaplain Amy