Summer starts

The calendar may read May 31, but the heat and humidity make it feel like summer is well underway. It always takes me some time to adjust to our new normal when school is out. The house is busier and the days are longer. Things are certainly more entertaining, but writing gets tricky.

Yesterday afternoon I was unloading the dishwasher when all of a sudden I heard blood-curdling screams coming from the bonus room upstairs.

“MOMMA!!! WE NEED YOU!! HURRY!! WE NEED YOU NOW!!”

Startled and convinced something was on fire or someone’s life was in jeopardy, I threw the silverware down and bolted upstairs:

“WHO’S HURT?! WHAT’S WRONG?? WHAT IS IT??”

As it turns out, the two older girls had come across a spider. An itsy bitsy teenie weenie spider.

I live in a state of low-grade anxiety. So, I’m not kidding when I say it took ten or fifteen minutes for my heart to stop racing after the whole incident, which was really a non-incident. High-intensity moments like this are not uncommon around here, so I suspect my overall productivity {and sanity} may take a nosedive this summer as I slay spiders and tend to other “emergencies.”

What I know for certain will not take a nosedive is my desire to connect with you via words on a screen. If ever I have needed this outlet, it’s in the summer months. I don’t say it enough, so I will say it here now: thank you for sticking with me from season to season.

Speaking of seasons, I have a quote that I keep on my phone that probably need to pray over every morning these next few months. It reads:

Loving people the way Jesus did means living a life
filled with constant interruptions.
Bob Goff

I tend to think that all the summer interruptions keep me from doing important things. In reality, it may well be that the interruptions themselves are the most important things.

A few weeks ago I started reading a new book. I can’t remember how I came across the author, but I am soaking up the wisdom of Amy Julia Becker. She has several books out, but the one I started on is Small Talk: Learning From My Children About What Matters Most. The chapters are standalone stories about what God is teaching her through the questions and conversations she has with her kids. Her oldest child, Penny, has Down Syndrome and is instantly endearing. It’s a great summer read.

In Small Talk she says, “For a long time, I thought my children were a distraction from the work God was doing in my life and in the world around me. I am starting to realize they are the work God is doing in my life. They are the invitation to give, to receive, to be humbled, to grow. They are the vehicles of grace.”

I need that reminder every day.

I’ll close with a few pictures and a short story about our first outing of the summer season. I’m not sure what lesson I learned from my children on this particular day except maybe that we are weak people.

I have fond memories of picking strawberries with the girls this time of year.

But fast forward eight years, and times have changed.

• On Tuesday, we went to a strawberry patch.
• It was hot.
• We labored in the fields for 17 minutes and picked a collective $8 worth of strawberries.
• We had to stop for ICEES on the way home because we were so fatigued from our work.
• When I took the strawberries out of the plastic bags and washed them, most were mushy. Our efforts and our drive to a faraway farm were all in vain.

My grandfather, the dairy farmer who baled hay and milked actual cows on a real farm, would be so proud.

May your weekend be restful and your strawberries {whether picked or purchased} be sweet.

And may you and I both see the interruptions that come our way this season, whether in the form of kids or pets or other people… as opportunities and invitations.