summer Archives -

Doing Ok? Reflect, and You May Find Out

July 5, 2019July 5, 2019

Are you doing ok? Is this season – summer – going the way you’d hoped it would (so far)?

It’s taken me until mid-life to admit this, but I like my routines and have a difficult time when they’re changed. I become irritable. Sullen. Angry. And eventually, I’m sort of numb to those around me. Even I don’t want to spend time with me.

This came to my attention last week when I was snapping at my kids and husband hourly, and I finally realized that my days were looking dramatically different than they did just weeks ago. I needed to make a few changes to give myself some self-care over the summer months.

Renewing my commitments to daily prayer and Scripture time, talking through my feelings with my husband, doing a bit of exercise, and making an effort to see my friends went a long ways toward improving my mood. But so did one other thing I’d like to recommend: a gentle period of reflection.

Let me admit up front that I am not an expert in reflection. I’ve contemplated various periods of my life and written about many experiences, but I’m not someone who sits down every few months or even once a year and asks, “What is the overarching message of my current life? What do I need to learn?”

But now that I’ve done this, I can see its value. Annie Dillard famously said in The Writing Life, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing.”

So, what are we doing with our time? Periodically asking seems sage. Maybe even necessary.

In Episode 84 of her podcast, The Next Right Thing, Emily P. Freeman gives a great overview of how to do a reflection, and she encourages her listeners to start with the last 3 months. Using her questions as a guide, I recently reviewed April, May, and June. To trigger my memory, I reviewed the photos in my phone, my calendar, and a few of my to-do lists. You might try doing the same.

In the honesty of your own heart, ask yourself the following:

1) Which events were the happiest, most joyful, and life-giving for me?
2) Where did I experience disappointment, sadness, and fear?
3) What are my unresolved questions, both big and small, that bother me consistently?
4) Where do I use my time well? Where could I make better choices?
5) When I review my to-do lists, which things are consistently undone? Why are they undone?
6) What tasks make me feel most alive when I do them?
7) What small changes could I make that would imbue my life with more energy?
8) Can I ask God for the willingness to trust Him more in the areas where I need direction and help? How can I invite Him into my days?

If this exercise intrigues you, visit Emily’s site and dig deeper. My questions are very similar to Emily’s (because hers were great!) and in the same order, but they are far less comprehensive. She covers more topics.

We are here to live full, purposeful lives, but it’s difficult to do that when we’re rushing from one place to the next, meeting the demands of our days without drawing meaningful connections from our experiences. Take a little time to unwrap the gifts of the last three months; uncover the graces God has laid there for you.

3 Ways to Savor the Last Weeks of Summer

August 8, 2016October 15, 2018

I’m digging into my salad when I see that a friend has posted on FB a photo of his Yellow Lab sleeping in the grass and captioned it, “Dog days of August.”

Ah yes…dog days. Lazy days. I too want to do…absolutely nothing.

Just a few weeks left of summer vacation, and what a fabulous summer it’s been. Family trips to the Outer Banks and Maine, long days spent poolside, and plenty of time for reading, movie-watching, and sipping lemonade. Heaven on earth.

I appreciated the dog photo, because it reminded me that it’s easy to become lulled in these hot, humid days into taking this season’s blessings for granted. So here are three ways to renew your appreciation of August.

Visit the farmer’s market. We go every weekend to find the juiciest corn, mouthwatering heirloom tomatoes, and biggest cantaloupes around. I love to fill my bags with the fruits of the earth, knowing that these fresh foods are divinely designed to nourish my body in exactly the right way. And oh – the peaches this month! Don’t get me started on my love for peaches…
Make a date with a friend. In this season more than any other, it’s easy to lose touch with people because families go their own ways. Within communities there are fewer routines, and we don’t cross paths with friends we see on a regular basis at other times of the year. I saw a dear friend at Mass on Sunday, and we hadn’t connected in weeks! If you’re missing someone, let them know, and make a date to get coffee or have lunch. We are created to love; we need one another. We need to connect with our friends.
Take a day trip. Go see something new. Or revisit someplace you haven’t been in awhile. We’re going to Ocean City, NJ – my husband’s childhood summer retreat – to eat pizza and play mini-golf. Take a short escape from the ordinary and go, while keeping your eyes open to the wonders that await.

As I grow in appreciation of the beauty of each season, I see the world for what it is – a home for me and for all of us, created in love, by Love Himself, to be cherished and utilized conscientiously. And the more I meditate on its offerings – the more I savor life in all its fullness – the more I realize that I can’t begin to count my blessings.

Happy are those who dwell in your house!

They never cease to praise you.

-Psalm 84:5

No More Summer Scrooge

June 23, 2016

I used to hate summer. I was a Summer Scrooge.

I only lightly concealed my loathing of the heat and humidity. I never wanted to be outside. I harbored resentments – for my fair skin that burns like bacon, blue eyes not meant for bright sunlight, and tender feet that just won’t tolerate hot cement, sand, or even flip-flops. Strange, you think? It’s true. The thought of something stuck between my toes all day long makes me cringe.

But my feelings were a prison of my own making.

It’s amazing how years can go by before you realize that you’re missing out on whole seasons of your life because of the way you look at them.

I’ve learned – the words that ring in my head and my heart frame my perspective.

So, 7 years ago, I decided to make summer different. It happened like this….

I had a friend who seemed to treat every day like an adventure, even if she never left her home. One weekday afternoon, I was sitting in her bright yellow kitchen while she cooked, eating olives from a ornate blue and white bowl that was part of a set.

“I love these bowls,” I told her, which matched a platter covered in cheese, crackers, and cured Italian meats.

“Thanks! They’re from Portugal. We got them when Tim* was stationed in Rome.”

Five of the six kids we had between us were yelling and charging happily all over her house, occasionally running through to snatch a slice of provolone or salami.

“And you’re using them today?”

“Why not?” she laughed. “What good are they doing in the cupboard? I use them all the time!”

“What if they get broken?”

“Well, then they do,” and she tossed her long hair as if to say, ‘But we really used them, didn’t we?’

That small exchange made an impression on me. Yes, other people had told me, “Use the good china,” but until that moment – I guess I hadn’t heard the message: Live today.

Even as a stay-at-home mom doing the usual thing on a random Tuesday – Live today.

And I decided to make a summer plan.

In the beginning, my summer plan entailed my own physical happiness. I found a non-sticky sunscreen and decided I was worth the expense, shunned capris and shorts and settled on the fact that skirts were more comfortable for me in the heat, and discovered that playing in the pool with my kids actually is more fun than sitting on the side watching them.

But by leaping those physical hurdles, I also found strength to focus on my deeper, emotional hurdles. Like how to use the summer months to draw closer to my children emotionally, when holding them at arms’ length would be easier for me. I’m an introvert with currently very extroverted children, and all this ‘togetherness’ can be challenging.

But the summer is time we will never get back. So I’ve learned to pray and ask for discernment from God about how to spend these days well.

I don’t always get the answers I want. As one would expect, there is less time for me and my pursuits, and in the short-term that can be frustrating. (i.e. I’ll be blessed if I can write one blog piece a week from now thru August!)

But because of my willingness to bend to Him, He is helping me to make the very most of now, learn from the past, and have fewer regrets later. It’s a hard thing to admit that I’m a better mom to my third six-year old than I was to my first child when he was six, but good parenting is about continuing to grow, and I so desperately want to be good – for them. I am being formed into the woman I was intended to be and the Creator is creating the best summers of my life.

This coming week, we’ll be on vacation, and I intend to spend equal time on the beach reading and building sandcastles. But I leave you with some recent words from my youngest son.

He and I were driving to the gym in silence when he blurted this out. I scrambled to get it down as soon as I could. I was in awe of what I’d heard, knowing I had to preserve it forever. He said,

“Every day is special.

Because God is always with us.

And every day is a birthday.

And a new baby is born.

And a new house is built.

And a car is fixed.

And flowers are planted.

And gardens grow.”

Amen.

Every day is special.

*Not his real name.