Summertime is Kicking My Rear!

Whoever ** said, “Summertime, and the living is easy” lied through his teeth.

I say, “Summertime is kicking my rear!”

Emma has school Monday - Thursday and gymnastics on Friday. Next week, James has T-ball camp from 10-12. We always have speech therapy on Thursdays. And we are slap in the middle of a two-week stretch of swim lessons.

Did I mention that in my quest to be a “fun” mom we’ve also been to the pool and had a couple of play dates?

Or that in my quest to be a “fit” mom I’ve been going to the gym? Today, I even managed to trip over my own two feet and crash on the sidewalk while trying to be a “runner” mom.

Every day is something different, which really pulls my pigtails.

I like routine. I like plans. I especially love it when a plan comes together. :-)

Tonight, I had a whole plan that involved a little blogging and a lot of fiction (writing, not reading).
Instead, we had a movie night. Me, the kids, and Boz Christmas. Hey, around here, we rock Christmas year round.

(Lest you start thinking I need a double halo because I’m so awesome, I should confess that my plan was for the KIDS to have a movie night. I was going to hit Play and run. The plan would have worked if Drew hadn’t slid his little hand in mind and dragged me—no, I did not go skipping with glee—back to the bonus room).

So, there will be this post and no fiction because I’m not capable of being a “decent” mom if I haven’t had enough sleep and I can’t seem to convince my children to all sleep in on the same day. Emma and James have been taking turns getting up between 6 and 6:30. (Drew sleeps until 9, which is why he’s my favorite. I’m kidding! Sorta).

You may be wondering what any of this has to do with, well, anything. I’m glad you asked!

I know—really—how insane summers can be. I get it. And I do NOT want you to be discouraged or intimidated about trying to work through a Bible study during the summer. (We are doing Gideon by Priscilla Shirer - you can read about it here!)

Will you fall behind? Probably. Does it matter? Nope.

If you want to join us, go get your book and get started. Don’t worry about whether you can keep up or not. We are hoping to have completed Weeks 1 & 2 by July 2nd. (If you’ve watched Beth Moore’s video you’ll realize we are going to be a week behind her. We are okay with that!)

I learned a long time ago that Bible studies are funny things. It’s not about how fast you work through them. It’s about the fact that you do. If it takes you twelve weeks to do a six week study, you may find that the lesson you cover in the 11th week is EXACTLY what you need when you need it.

If you have picked up your Gideon book, then please give us a shout in the comments. You don’t have to say how far along you are, just let us know you are along for the ride.

**Turns out it was George Gershwin. I hate to say anything disparaging about Gershwin, but I think he took some serious artistic license with the whole “summertime” concept. :-)

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Commit to Staying Plugged In This Summer

My two-year-old learned a hard lesson this week.

The iPod doesn’t work unless it’s been charged.

He doesn’t care that it has a cracked screen or that the operating system is so old we can’t download new apps to it—he loves to push the buttons and find the pictures and listen to the music.

But yesterday, all he got was a blank screen. That thing was D.E.A.D.

Unfortunately, no matter how many times I placed the iPod on the charger and tried to explain, all he wanted was to play with his toy. So he’d yank it off the charger as soon as the silver apple appeared on the screen, and then wail in anguish when it promptly disappeared.

I couldn’t make him understand that I was more than willing for him to use the iPod but until it spent some time plugged into the power source….

It. Would. Not. Work.

I wonder if God does the same thing with us. I wonder if He continues to draw us to Him. To His Word. To His house. To His people. But we are so immature, we simply can’t get it through our heads that if we continue to play and live and work without plugging in to Him that…

It. Will. Not. Work.

We will falter. We will sin. We will drift.

This may come as a shock, but we are in a battle. Spiritual warfare is all around us. And here’s the simple truth.

Christians don’t get to take the summer off.

No matter how many days we plan to spend at the lake, or the beach, or the pool, spending some time plugged into the source of Power is the only way to get through the days ahead without our screens going blank and our effectiveness for the Kingdom disappearing.

We are either drawing closer to Him or we are pulling away from Him. There is no in between.

 

Disconnecting from June-August (or, let’s call it like it really is, from May-September) and expecting to still be growing in our faith is as ludicrous as Drew believing his little hand-me-down iPod will work without spending some time on the charger.

So here’s the challenge.

Stay in the Word. Keep moving toward Him. Don’t let September roll around and be so drained you have to take until Christmas to get your spiritual strength back to where it is now.

Commit to staying plugged in this summer.

 

My dear friend, Ginger, and I are going to be working through a study on Gideon by Priscilla Shirer. (You can read the blog post from Beth Moore about it here). If you’d like some accountability (because I’m not pretending this is easy!) we’d love for you to join us. Get the book, and be ready to start next Tuesday. I’ll be blogging about it as we go through the summer.

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