Dear Cornerstone Family,
As a child, summers were magical for me. Even today, summer smells like freshly mown grass and sunscreen. It feels like swimming holes and sand between my toes. It tastes like hotdogs and watermelon. It sounds like a choir of crickets and the whizz of a fishing rod. Summer meant so many things, but mostly, it meant time. Time to watch movies and play whiffle ball. Time to listen to music and read whatever I wanted. Summer was like a two-and-a-half-month permission slip to do what I wanted to do and not feel bad for it.
As great as my childhood summers were, there were the inevitable temptations that go along with such special times. Still today, there are certain temptations that show up during a summer vacation that I don’t experience—at least not as poignantly—the rest of the year. If I were to boil the temptation down, I’d call it this: to live for self.
True, this temptation is always present, but there are certain times—like summer vacation—that are literally designed for us, so to speak. Think about it. Why do we go on vacation? We go for our own rest and enjoyment. In fact, people actually tell you to, “Go enjoy yourself.” When we say those things, we usually mean “go have a good time,” and that’s right in so far as it goes. But it’s easy, isn’t it, for our sinful hearts to hear “enjoy yourself” and slip into “live for self” mode. Ironically, when we do this, we cut the legs out of true rest and enjoyment. Whatever pleasure we gain from living for self is shallow and fleeting. It always leaves us disappointed.
God has not designed us to enjoy ourselves by living for self. This is where we go wrong. We go on vacation, and we try to rest like the rest of the world. Truth be told, many of us rest from our Christian commitments on vacation. It’s crazy but we go on vacation to rest, and we walk away from the Lord of rest! Not surprisingly, we end up restless and irritable. We wind up needing vacations from our vacations, because we neglected the true rest our souls need.
With all this in mind, let’s commit to move through summer differently this year. By all means, keep catching those lightning bugs and sipping that sweet tea on the back porch. Enjoy the good things God designed summer for. But as you do, enjoy the Lord of the summer most of all. If you do that, you might just have the best summer yet.
“Jesus, I am resting, resting
In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart.”
—Jean S. Pigott
Your servant,
