SUMMERTIME BLUES
I have the summertime blues. Do you? I think it must be a common problem or there wouldn't be songs written about it. I always get them when summer rolls around. Partly, it's because my comfortable routine has been disturbed and I have too much free time on my hands (translation, not enough structure). I can sleep until 8 if I want and don't have to rush getting dressed. I'm not required to make appointments around my Bible study/babysitting/choir/small group/visit to mother-in-law schedule. So appointments cut into my afternoons in ways that make the rest of the day open to mischief like shopping or eating a late lunch at a restaurant. I don't discipline my trips to town as I should, ending up with a lot of wasted time driving to and from, (we live in the country) as well as extra gas at a time when gas is extra expensive.
Another reason for the summertime blues must be the heat. I don't do heat well. Living in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains as we do, chances are we'll have days over 100 degrees before you know it. That's stay-in-the-house-under-the-air-conditioning kind of weather. It means I can't be outside for very long or do outdoorsy things without getting sweaty and puffy. I don't like either one of those. At all. That's my excuse about the weeding, which I can only manage to do during evenings and early mornings, and working in the garden.
The one and only good thing to ever come out of my summertime blues was being propelled into writing. It was that
horrible summer of 2003. Hormones were wacky, life was disordered, Bob was miserable, we were overwhelmed by the amount of work our beautiful fourteen acres required. Between bouts of crying and hysteria, I knew I had to do something to pull out of my funk and moodiness. God graciously gave me a story about the neighbors down the hill whom I'd never seen during our 2 years of living there. But even writing has been sporadic and undisciplined. That's why it has taken me so long to actually whip that story into a shape that might merit publication. Discipline is lacking in summer.
Most damaging of all, summer means my routine morning prayer and Bible study somehow never gets done. That equates to spritual flabbiness. I plan to do it, every day, same as the rest of the year. But it gets pushed back while I do something else, and something else, and all of a sudden the day's over and it never got done. And that's where the biggest part of the problem lies, I think. If I start my day with prayer and Bible reading, everything else flows naturally behind it, in proper order. God being a God of order, expects nothing less. We were created to function in an ordered setting. First things first, with proper priorities. That's why the Bible say, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matt. 6:33. The "first" part is crucial. The Ten Commandments makes that clear. God is King of the Universe, the One and Only True God, Lord of All. If we give Him first place in our hearts, then we must also give Him first place in each day.
Another reason for the summertime blues must be the heat. I don't do heat well. Living in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains as we do, chances are we'll have days over 100 degrees before you know it. That's stay-in-the-house-under-the-air-conditioning kind of weather. It means I can't be outside for very long or do outdoorsy things without getting sweaty and puffy. I don't like either one of those. At all. That's my excuse about the weeding, which I can only manage to do during evenings and early mornings, and working in the garden.
The one and only good thing to ever come out of my summertime blues was being propelled into writing. It was that
horrible summer of 2003. Hormones were wacky, life was disordered, Bob was miserable, we were overwhelmed by the amount of work our beautiful fourteen acres required. Between bouts of crying and hysteria, I knew I had to do something to pull out of my funk and moodiness. God graciously gave me a story about the neighbors down the hill whom I'd never seen during our 2 years of living there. But even writing has been sporadic and undisciplined. That's why it has taken me so long to actually whip that story into a shape that might merit publication. Discipline is lacking in summer.
Most damaging of all, summer means my routine morning prayer and Bible study somehow never gets done. That equates to spritual flabbiness. I plan to do it, every day, same as the rest of the year. But it gets pushed back while I do something else, and something else, and all of a sudden the day's over and it never got done. And that's where the biggest part of the problem lies, I think. If I start my day with prayer and Bible reading, everything else flows naturally behind it, in proper order. God being a God of order, expects nothing less. We were created to function in an ordered setting. First things first, with proper priorities. That's why the Bible say, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matt. 6:33. The "first" part is crucial. The Ten Commandments makes that clear. God is King of the Universe, the One and Only True God, Lord of All. If we give Him first place in our hearts, then we must also give Him first place in each day.
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