Summer

What does summer mean to you? To me it's sun, and sea, and bar-b-ques and lightening bugs and camping trips and the lake, garden vegetables and sweet strawberries. It's an island in the middle of St. Mary's lake that my Dad used to take us to every weekend in the summers of my childhood. Where Mom had a cooler packed, and Dad grilled us hot dogs and himself a steak. My family on a pontoon boat, them fishing, me laying on the cushions reading, because I hated to fish, with the hot sun beating down on my back. The smell of sunscreen being rubbed on my shoulders. It's late nights running the neighborhood with my friends. It's cool sheets, and a breeze. It's sleeping on my grandma's porch in florida, listening to the croaking of frogs and crickets and other night noises. And later it's my kids running around outside til they couldn't see each other, but never wanting to come in. It's watching the ocean waves knock them over, them coming up sputtering and laughing. It's Disney World, Kings Island or Universal Studios. It's mosquito bites, sunburns and poison ivy, but it's mostly always good. Is it any wonder that summer is longed for and missed when gone?

It's a time of freedom and joy. Vacations, long weekends, fireworks. It's laughter. It's sweaty bodies cooled off in the pool. It's slumber parties and tents in the back yard. It's swaying on my swing. It's popsicles and Dairy Queen runs.

It's my favorite season of all.

Twenty eight years ago it was the birth of our firstborn. A lovely sunny day. I was hot and swollen, but the day was the most special day I'd ever experienced. A beautiful sweet tiny baby boy, born with a smile on his precious face.

Two years ago it was the wedding of our daughter, started off raining, but turned into a magnificent sunny day. A joyful day.

Summer to me also means love. First love, a mother's love. An old love, a strong love. I didn't meet my husband in the summer, I met him smack dab in the middle of winter, but that first summer with him was our turning point, when we knew this was it. Me & You baby. Forever. It was sitting on my parent's front porch dreaming of our future. Talking about what our lives were going to be like.  Twenty nine years later we still sit outside and talk about what our lives are going to be like. More of the same we say, more love, more children, more happiness. I pray. I hope. I dream.

That's the thing about summer, it makes all things possible. The gray of winter has passed. The promise of good things to come. This poem always comes to my mind:

God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

We can't always have summer, but we can always look forward to it and know that eventually it will come. And even in the harsher seasons of our lives, God has gave us this, his promises of help and love.

May this be your summer to experience the bounties of his love.