Summer

Summer – it brings up many thoughts for me. Unfortunately in the last few years many of my thoughts are negative ones. I've heard the saying that women don’t sweat, they glow. Well I glow uncomfortably for three months. Mosquitoes and other bugs seem to feast on me; their bites turn into welts. Ugh!

This is preface to the realization several years ago that I fight, even hate summer. It gives me an excuse for being in a bad mood too often. I sometimes even wish away time. What can I do to get through the next three months – go north? Hibernate in air conditioning – reading and watching tv and playing games?

I know people who thrive in summer. My husband loves summer (making my hibernation idea somewhat unworkable). A good friend and co-worker from Illinois lived for summer. She loved the feel of the sun on her skin. She reveled in playing volleyball on the beach. Why can’t I feel that way?

Well, of course I can feel that way. The third Unity principle pops into my mind. “We are co-creators with God, creating reality through thoughts held in mind.” I’m holding a thought in mind that does not serve me very well.

So on this first week of summer, I am willing to see this season in a different way. The beauty of the sun and heat are evident everywhere: in the roses, the honeysuckle that smells so sweet right now and my growing tomatoes. Driving around Hunterdon County, I pass fields of thigh high corn – corn on the cob and my tomatoes is one of my favorite summer meals. In the last few weeks, we’ve seen four baby raccoons and their mom and our Eastern bluebird nest box has lots of activity as the parents lay the nest and alternate bringing food to the nestlings.

Hot air balloons pass overhead during our dinners on the deck. In the dusk and evening, the fireflies truly do glow – sometimes in our cow pasture and in the woods after a hot day hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of firefly lights create a fairyland. Because the nights are cool, we can leave our windows open – great sleeping weather. (Oh, and no heavy winter coats for a few months.)

I am willing to count my blessings of living in this time and space with all of its beauty and conveniences (air conditioners and daily showers come to mind).

I affirm: “I celebrate the radiance of summer.” (from the Daily Word for the first day of Summer, June 21,2014) And from Ecclesiastes 8:15 So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people under the sun than to eat, and drink, and enjoy themselves, for this will go with them in their toil through the days of life. Amen

~ JEAN