Point to ponder:
How can you make the time and space to putter this summer?
Friday was the summer solstice--the official start to summer- whew! And while I welcome and love a hot, sweaty and loosely scheduled summer, I have a love/hate relationship with it too. To get it out of the way, I’ll start with the negative first, which is that I don’t do well with the transition from an organized, routine, productive and predictable school year to a less scheduled summer and often times unproductive-feeling summer.
Even before having children, I’ve felt this way and though I consider myself a spontaneous person, often times fly by the seat of my pants and love saying “yes” at the last minute—a routine is very grounding which puts my mind at ease. With that being said, I love the “puttering” aspect of summer—not having the day mapped out, not having to rush out of the house and not having a schedule. This is a fun, refreshing and inspiring. The changing of seasons always reminds me of the wisdom in Ecclesiastes 3, 1-8, and also quoted in the song Turn!, Turn!, Turn! by the Byrds, there is a time for everything: For everything that happens in the life–there is a season, a right time for everything under heaven. A time to be born, a time to die; a time to plant, a time to collect harvest; A time to kill, a time to heal; a time to tear down, a time to build up; a time to mourn, a time to dance; A time to scatter stones, a time to pile them up; a time for a warm embrace, a time for keeping your distance; A time to search, a time to give up as lost; a time to keep, a time to throw out; A time to tear apart, time to bind together; a time to be quiet, a time to speak up; A time to love, a time to hate; a time to go to war, a time to make peace.
Reading a little further, in Ecclesiastes (3, 12-13) it says, “What good comes to anyone who works so hard, all to gain a few possessions. I know there is nothing better for us than to be joyful and to do good throughout our lives; to eat and drink and see the good in all of our hard work is a gift from God.”
This is what I think summer is all about–it’s our season of harvest. A time to celebrate our seasons of hard work, to reap what we have sown, slow down, unplug, breathe, rest, ride your bike, stay up late, watch movies, float in the lake, read books, being intentional with having fun, try new things, create, chill out, putter and discovering. We all need it!
The objective to summer (in my opinion), is to minimize our need to achieve and be hyper-productive while maximizing the time we spend having fun, puttering and experiencing renewal--which includes iGnite of course :-)
Action Item:
This summer, unbusy your calendar and rearrange your schedule so that you can create the time and space for you and your family to chill out, have fun and putter, and iGnite Your Life, of course :-)