Dear grace-girl,
At Casa de McCormick,
Summer sounds like the ping of the microwave, the buzzing of cell phones, the silliness of
Brooklyn Nine-Nine and the sweeping soundtrack of
Anne with an E. Our girls have been out of school for almost two weeks, and the house is much louder than it was when they were in school.
Enter summer.
Summer and I have a complicated relationship. I adore her for her open invitation to my mother-in-law's pool and not needing to get two girls to two schools at two different times. Summer offers watermelon and peaches so sublime, the juice rolls down my chin. She gives me permission to inspect and assess how we've been living and asks me if I want to do life a little bit differently. She holds so much potential in her three months.
AND ALSO, Summer feels less like the downshift Instagram promises – with late nights and later mornings and a slower pace – and more like just shifting into a different type of busy. To me, she is a master at bait-and-switch, offering “Follow me to lazy, hazy days of summer,” and then supplanting it with “Hey, do your job at home with two kids who will interrupt you AND try to get them places in the middle of your work day.” In Summer, my priorities as a mom and employee play tug-of-war, my roles seem to be mutually exclusive.
Friends, don't get me wrong. I truly love Summer, AND I also feel like the lightness of the season holds a weight of trying to do All The Things with my people and feeling guilt when I can't hack it.
So, yes, it's complicated around here. Maybe Summer holds contradictions and competitions for your time and affection, too.
As we enter a new series about Gracious Summertime Strategies, I want us to pause, define, and name our feelings and expectations about Summer.
Friends, naming your thoughts, longings, beliefs, and hopes is a gift God gives His beloved children. In fact, naming was the very first job ever given to humanity (Genesis 2:19). Madeleine L'Engle said this about naming, “To name is to love. To be Named is to be loved.”*
You are Named, so you get to name. Naming is a gracious gift God gives His grace-girls. Take Him up on it. Name what's rumbling in your heart about summer. It'll do you good. And don't just take my word for it, the
Lazy Genius Kendra Adachi believes in the powerful grace of naming as well.
