Simple Summer

Summer is almost officially upon us, although today feels as though it has arrived. Our morning walk was just a tad bit hotter than usual. But this family has always loved summer.

Baseball games, whiffle ball, fireflies, swimming, beaches, long days, short nights, back porches…well you get the general idea. I am sure you can add your favorite summer activities to make you own list! In fact, that might be a good idea. Or let your children journal what they see and learn!

There is something about summer that gives us permission to slow down a bit. No set bedtimes, no set wake up times. When the kids were little, summer just happened at a different pace.

Are we missing something throughout the rest of the year? The simplicity? Summer is a time when you can stop and think, enjoy, “smell the roses” so to speak.

I know that we all have obligations, meetings, work, and so forth. But we need to learn something from our summertimes. Stop, look, listen. Enjoy those first fireflies of the summer. My boys loved taking their mason jars and catching those interesting insects. As they caught them they sometimes named them, put them in their room so they would have light at night.

This led to finding out about fireflies, or “lightning bugs” as we used to call them. They learned what they ate, how they lived, why they lit up…on and on. This process is called bioluminescence and is shared by many other organisms, mostly sea-living or marine organisms. How cool is that? Learning because it was fun.

“Learning because it was fun.” That is so often what summer is about. Children are curious by nature, let them look, let them discover….I always said “learning if caught, not taught.”

God’s creation is alive and well. Stop and look. You will be surprised at how simple it really is….He is everywhere…let your kids discover it this summer.

Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it.”

Be blessed~

IN CHRIST ALONE

Isaiah 55:8-9

*google image, NIV Bible, “How Stuff Works”