Now after another month...

One of the real blessings of the year for parents of school aged children is summer break. Of course I'm speaking from the perspective of the father who leaves the house each morning and not the mother who's home with three young boys. Never-the-less, it's nice not having the pressures of rigid bedtimes, wake up times, clothes to prepare, lunches to be made and so on. Basically, it's nice to relax.

One of the realities of summer relaxation, however, is that we create a whole new routine - a "relaxed summer routine." I find that my relaxed summer routine can (if I allow it) affect every area of my life, areas that for me are no different whether my kids are in school or not. One really big area where I can't afford a relaxed routine is my personal walk with God in prayer and Bible reading. A quiet time, for most folks, is a hard hard practice to maintain. In fact, I tend to be skeptical of anyone who says "Oh I never struggle to maintain a consistent quiet time." While that might be true for a select few (but I doubt it), it's just not the case with me. I constantly struggle to maintain a consistent quiet time. I even have a hard time not letting the words "consistent" and "maintain" hurl me into a check-list mentality. Basically what I'm saying is that I find it hard everyday of my life to walk with God the way I want to walk with Him in my heart and mind. Maybe all that rambling resonates with you too. The point is this - I already have an ongoing struggle and there is the real danger of letting a relaxed summer routine compound the problem. I have to work even harder during the summer and I figure it's probably the same for you.

It doesn't matter whether you are a parent of school aged kids or a school aged kid or a college student or a young adult or a senior adult. We all have to be careful not to allow our relaxed summer affect our walk with God. We can't afford to get lazy in this area. When we do, we suffer. Our hearts and minds become clouded and conflicted. Our choices often become fueled by our sinful lusts and our actions become selfish and vain. Does anyone really want that to be true of their life as a Christian? Me either.

Let's enjoy the summer. Let's go to the beach and the water park. Let's enjoy a hike or a boat ride. Let's make homemade ice-cream and invite friends over on a weeknight to grill out. Let's sleep in a little bit if we can but let's don't get lazy in our walk with God in prayer and Bible reading. We simply can't afford it!