Summertime TIME - How we view. How we can use it.

It’s summertime! A time for rest and relaxation. A time to slow down the pace of life. A time to have new adventures. But why? Why do we wait to do all these things for a time the world deems as appropriate to approach routine differently?

Matthew 6:34 MSG “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

We are called to be present in every moment. So, as a wife and working mom of 4 I aim to make every day like summertime.

We need rest and relaxation in every day. We need time to slow down each day. We need adventures and curiosity as often as we can get it. In this way, I don’t have to take pause and wonder how to adjust to the tempo of summer when the kids are out of school. I am already acclimated to the tempo.

So what happens when we are not acclimated?

I believe most people would agree that change is not easy. Some might even say it is hard. Thus, when we are not acclimated to a certain tempo, we can feel uneasy and out of sorts. However, we were never meant to do things the way the world does them. In fact, we must question our path when we are moving in the same tempo as the world.

Romans 12:1-2 MSG So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

How can we learn a new tempo?

It’s simple. God’s word lays it out. Take our every, ordinary life-our sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life-and place it before God. Maybe it is the slowed down tempo of summer that we can actually put this instruction into practice.\

God wants to transform us for the work He has planned. Yet we get so caught up in our own plans and for that matter our own provision, in all things not just money, that we forget to give Him every ounce of us. Down to our sleeping, eating, walking around and going to work life.

In the midst of the slow down and change of routine I pray that we embrace what God is doing right in front of us. That we don’t miss out on the actions that seem insignificant. I pray that we can come to these compassionate and helpful words to guide us in the busyness.

Luke 16:15 NLT Then he said to them, “You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God.

God knows our hearts. Are we actively allowing our hearts and thus perspective to be transformed? To answer this question, we need look no further than our moment to moment actions.

Challenge: This summer, get super intentional. Let the lack of demands on your time with school out be what calls you closer to Him. When we do life His way, the fruits of the Spirit follow.

Galatians 5:24-26 MSG But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.


Written and Insights By:
Lauren Frazier, MSW, RYT
www.liferichcoaching.com