purposes summer vacation is over…and I for one am ready. Now, don’t get me wrong I had great summer. One of the best Vacation Bible Schools ever! Two weeks of helping out at Redwood Christian Park with their children’s program. Two week’s in Africa. Visits from family and friends. Watching my kids learn new skills and experience new growth. BBQ’s and sunshine. Yes, this summer was great, but now I am looking forward to the rest that schedule brings.
Earlier bed-times, school schedules, weekly church programs, oh yeah, and soccer. Yep, I am looking forward to sliding back into the old comfortable clothes of fall. I guess that adage that we are all creatures of habit is true. And it is really not a bad description, that is unless the habits are bad ones.
One thing I try to do at this time of the year is to enter into some renewed habits (good ones). It may mean getting back into the habit of prayer, or of journaling. It may mean getting back into the habit of exercise and eating right. It may mean getting back into the habit of time around the table with family and friends. This time of the year, maybe more than any other, affords me the time to stop, reassess, reschedule and in the process be renewed. In many ways, we usher in not the end of the year, but its beginning.
As we say “good-bye” to the lazy-hazy-crazy-days of summer join me in saying “hello” to a glorious season of harvest. A time of new rich colors, a time of warmth, a time of festive renewal. A time where the hearths of our homes and hearts can be opened to the fire of God’s Spirit.
Come, and be renewed.