Summer's End

School buses are rolling. The mid week fisher-kids on the ponds, have likely reeled in their hooks for the last time. We wont see much of them or their bikes, until next spring.The flag that was unfurled on Memorial Day will be flown until weather closes her down, like the end of a Broadway play. Summer’s nearly done. Though temperatures in our region will rage on through September, the pools will lose customers to football games and summer fruits will give way to pumpkins and gourds. So in these final days of a full moon shining bright in a sky still lit at eight o’clock at night, I’m pondering memories that marked the summer 2015…

Movies: 

Triple digit temps drive folks into theaters. Even with Netflix, its more fun to meet up with friends at the theater to escape the sun’s deep summer glare. A stunning remake of the classic film Far From the Madding Crowd was my favorite this summer. Filmed in the cooler climate of northern Britain, a smart woman, successfully manages her land and agricultural business in an era when few women had legal status to own land. Very British. Very inspiring.

Travel and Family Reunions:

When I fly over the university campus, the capital dome, and the azure blue lakes of my home town all manner of unseen forces pull me into that beloved region. I’m promise, my heart physically responds to the lakes and deep woods oxygen of that familiar place. Mix in the voices of family, the replication of my mother in my nieces, siblings eyes just like mine, same old tales told yet again, nephews with smiles identical to their dad’s and grandfather…summer reunions spent bare foot in the grass make lasting imprints on the heart.

Famous Women of Faith:

Do you, sisters in faith, do you respond deep in your bones when Christian education includes the leadership of Biblical women like Priscilla, Deborah, and Huldah? So blessed this summer by hearing those portions of God’s story that includes my gender. Women, His image bearers, fully valued and called by God to teach, preach, and prophesy. 

Benches and Books: 

...written about over here, because reading has been and always will be part of the tradition of summer. It goes way back to the Summer Reading Log that every kid filled out at the Public Library. You did that right?

Seasonally red,white, and blue will soon give way to orange, red, and yellow. The bold color of Pansies and Gerber Daisies will be memories as we plant Mums for the fall. Its time. Put a ribbon around summer’s memories and turn our faces to the respite and softness that is uniquely autumn.

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