Summertime Thanksgiving
I confess, I love summer vacation. Not so much that I get a lot of time off (though we do get away a little) but that the season breathes freedom to play. Also the heat of the day leads me to much needed slowing down time. When it is almost 100 degrees (as it is when I write these words) you can’t do anything fast. You can’t push your life. Let these words about the desert mystics be a guide for us.
In the desert the most urgent thing is—to wait. The desert does not take kindly to those who tackle it at breakneck speed, subjecting it to their plans and deadlines. It soon takes its revenge and makes them pay dearly for their presumption. Instead, the desert welcomes those who shed their sandals of speed and walk slowly in their bare feet, letting them be caressed and burnt by the sand. If you have no ambition to conquer the desert, if you do not think you are in charge, if you can calmly wait for things to be done, then the desert will not consider you an intruder and will reveal its secrets to you. – By Alessandro Pronzato
We all need that time to slow down, sit a spell, and drink lots of water. God didn’t make us to be driven 24 hours a day as machines. God from the very beginning instilled in us and the universe the rhythms of day and night, work and rest, with a healthy dose of worship and sabbath. So this summer, take advantage of the invitation to slow down and be re-created.
However, don’t take a vacation from God.
We easily do that when we forget gratitude. Don’t just turn off your heart as you sit on the beach, look around and give thanks for the sun and sand and cooling water. Don’t close your spirit when you work and serve other people, offer your ideas and talents to others as gifts of God to you and through you. Don’t be selfish with your time, be sure to share your time with people in need as well as others who gather in worship. God is the source of all things, not because we deserve them, but because of Divine Love. Find ways to express, witness, and share your gratitude in the space this summer gives you.
