Where Did My Summer Go?

By Paul Gilbert

I always have big expectations for the summer months. Walks on the beach. BBQ in the backyard. Loads of books savored and enjoyed. The next Food Network Star on Sunday nights. Sleeping past 6:00 AM. In other words, everything that the school year is not. Everything that I count on the summer being. Everything that I feel like I need in order to have ultimate pleasure and enjoyment.

This summer, though? It just feels a little different. Less relaxing, less slow, less chill, and more – to use an overused term – BUSY.
 
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m still getting to do a lot of the things on my list. And, more. There are, in fact, some really fun things on tap for the Gilbert household. Yet, somehow, I keep thinking to myself that it’s not supposed to feel this busy. There still seems to be deadlines, bills to pay, problems to work out, places to be, and "to do" lists to crank through. I’m already starting to feel tired, and it’s only two weeks into June! I have a sense of foreboding that in only 6 or 7 weeks or so, I am going to be looking back at the vapor that was this summer season and be asking myself, “Where did my summer go?!”
 
Can you relate?
 
I ran into a school principal the other day who told me that the summer months are really just an intensive prep time to get ready for the other 10 months of the year. That struck a chord with me, because I think that’s a perspective that I have been lacking. I think some of the letdown I am experiencing right now might be because I have come INTO the summer expecting the wrong things FROM the summer. Maybe I came into June thinking that this summer was MY summer instead of this summer being GOD’s summer.
 
There’s a world of difference between these two things.
 
One perspective puts me in charge and the owner of my time; the other puts God in charge and the owner of HIS time. When I view the summer months as MINE, then I am going to grow increasingly frustrated and deflated when they fail to deliver what I think I need. However, when the summer months are GOD’S,  then I’m just the steward, the manager, the worker – doing the things God wants me to do to prepare for what He wants me to do in the season ahead.
 
Let me encourage you with something. If this summer is not turning out the way you envisioned it, ask God to give you fresh eyes and perspective towards what He wants to do in and through your life this summer season. And if things are still busy or hectic or crazy or whatever, at least you can go forward knowing that this is the kind of summer GOD wanted for you.