Photo by Lukas Tennie on Unsplash
While it is not yet officially summer, my FaithX colleagues and I are already checking in about shifts in activity and awareness as the summer solstice knocks on our doors. The days in the Pacific Northwest are brighter, it’s warm enough to think about lake-time in the upper Midwest, and here in the South the ground is warm enough to plant green beans and okra! The earth’s rhythms invite us into new behaviors and new opportunities, and summer’s invitations often call us outside.
What are your summer plans? Is there a vacation or a staycation on the horizon? Will you travel to visit family or friends? How will your rhythm change? What are your intentions for how you want to “be” this summer and what you want to “do”?
For me, “summer is a time… for enhanced perspective.” Since I love being outside and growing vegetables, summer is time for me to notice life. I watch things grow. I notice the bird songs. I look for wildflowers and lightening bugs (or maybe you call them fireflies). I stay outside past dark. In short when I slow down and pay attention, I am awash in a sense of abundance and mystery. How can there be this much life in my little corner of the world?
As you think about summer days and nights in your neck of the woods, how might these warmer, brighter days be nudging you to notice life differently? Perhaps your heart and energy are drawn toward family, recreation, reading on the beach, house projects… and the list goes on. How might summer activities or summer rest enhance your perspective of life and your relationship with God?
Traditionally, the pace of life for faith communities shifts in the summer. People are more absent from the weekly church offerings, and their energy is sometimes diverted from church responsibilities. It is not a bad thing; it just “is.” Honestly, for many of us, the change of pace is welcomed.
And yet, the work of the Spirit continues… even while we are on vacation, planting flowers, or eating a hamburger on the back deck. She is “moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters” still and always creating and birthing something new in our lives, in our churches, and in our communities. Do we have eyes to see? Perhaps the activity shifts of summer are a perfect opportunity for us to slow down and do some hovering of our own. If we slow down and cultivate an intention of awareness, how might our perspective and our sense of abundance and possibility shift?
Some years ago, I discovered this poem and it remains both a gift and an invitation:
If the Moon Came out Only Once a Month
by Cathy Ross
If the moon came out only once a month
people would appreciate it more. They’d mark it
in their datebooks, take a walk by moonlight, notice
how their bedroom window framed its silver smile.
And if the moon came out just once a year,
it would be a holiday, with tinsel streamers
tied to lampposts, stores closing early
so no one has to work on lunar eve,
travelers rushing to get home by moon-night,
celebrations with champagne and cheese.
Folks would stay awake ’til dawn
to watch it turn transparent and slowly fade away.
And if the moon came out randomly,
the world would be on wide alert, never knowing
when it might appear, spotters scanning empty skies,
weathermen on TV giving odds—“a 10% chance
of moon tonight”—and when it suddenly began to rise,
everyone would cry “the moon is out,” crowds
would fill the streets, jostling and pointing,
night events would be canceled,
moon-closure signs posted on the doors.
And if the moon rose but once a century,
ascending luminous and lush on a long-awaited night,
all humans on the planet would gather
in huddled, whispering groups
to stare in awe, dazzled by its brilliance,
enchanted by its spell. Years later,
they would tell their children, “Yes, I saw it once.
Maybe you will live to see it too.”
But the moon is always with us,
an old familiar face, like the mantel clock,
so no one pays it much attention.
Tonight
why not go outside and gaze up in wonder,
as if you’d never seen it before,
as if it were a miracle,
as if you had been waiting
all your life.
FaithX tools and resources are geared to help denominational and church leaders see their faith communities and their neighborhoods with enhanced gratitude, wonder, and possibility. Let us know how we might help you sharpen your perspective on the new life in your midst. We can be reached info@faithx.net.
