What Summer Taught Me

Summer seems to be trying to linger this year.  It's December 1st, but we've had 75 degree days and more sunshine that we seem to have most years around this time.  I love summer.  I would be glad if it was 80 degrees today.  This year though, the seasons have been split by things bigger than the weather.  I said "Goodbye" to summer on September 1st, when the seasons changed for me in the hour it took for me to say "goodbye" to my grandpa, as he passed from this life to spend eternity with Jesus.  I stayed glued to that spot on the bed across from him and couldn't move as they took him away.  I knew then, that things would never be the same.  I took my brother to football practice an hour later, both of us sobbing all the way, but as soon as we stepped out of the car and onto the field we got strong.  I think there's something powerful about a football field.  I stayed and watched the entire practice that day, just because it felt good to watch them work hard and hit each other.  I've spent more time on football fields this years than any other year in my life, and I think that's why. 

Summer always seems to start out magical.  I love everything summer.  Swimsuits, snow cones, lake trips, tan legs, sunrises and sunsets that take your breath away.  But in the beginning you don't know what you're going to miss the most when it's over, and I've gotten to this next season and I'm feeling raw and completely messed up.  I miss summer so much.  I'm all about honesty, so here we are. I'm having to purpose to find the gift in this season, because I don't see it at all.  They say that time is something that you can't ever get back once it's gone and that's taken on new meaning for me.


Summer has taught me:

1.  There's always more to people's stories than what we know.

I could write a long list of people that I've sat down with and heard their hearts over the summer. Some of them I'd known for a long time, and some of them I'd just met.  It's incredible how much you can learn just from asking for the real story, and listening.  These conversations were so beautiful, rich, and real and I've come to love people that I never thought I could love, just through hearing their stories.  The unfiltered versions.

2.  No one is beyond redemption.

I saw God move in mighty ways over the summer.  Friendships that seemed dead have been resurrected in beautiful ways that make God seem bigger than I once knew Him to be.  But isn't He always so much bigger than we think He is? 

I spent a couple of weeks in Kenya over the summer and it changed my life.  It wasn't my first time to Africa, but it always changes me.  I wrote some about my trip, and you can read about it here: http://www.thatorganicmom.com/beautiful-feet-jordan-covel/ 

People are precious.  All people.  Even the ones that are hard to love.

3.  No Season, no matter how hard or how beautiful, lasts forever.

Life is so short.  In the most beautiful times of our lives, when we're laughing, dancing and spending time with those that we love, we can't hear the clock ticking down the minutes...the seconds...but it's always ticking, and someday the time will be up.  You never know if it's going to be by death or by choice, but eventually everyone you know and love will leave you.  Only Jesus stays.
Hold onto those moments.  The memories will last forever even if the relationship can't.  As I sat next to my grandpa on his bed when he was slipping from death to real life, I had one hand on his heart, one hand tightly holding onto his, and I kept talking.  I told every story I knew.  Somehow I thought that my words would delay what was about to happen.  I thought I could keep him longer by telling him how much I was going to miss him as my fishing buddy and dancing partner.  I kept whispering, never taking a breath, because I knew he was leaving me, but even as I kept talking though my tears that were falling on his navy t-shirt, I felt his heart stop beating and just like that he was gone.  Life is like that.  Sometimes we can't hold on hard enough to keep the hard things from happening.  We can scream and cry and hate it as much as we want, but it doesn't change anything.  Even so, this won't last forever.  In the blink of an eye we will be with Jesus, and all the tears will be wiped away.  Amen.

4.  Life hurts, Jesus heals.

Jesus.  He is the only answer.  I've had moments of wanting to walk away from Him in this hard season.  I've lost more than my grandpa in this season.  I've lost two grandpa's, I've lost a couple of friends, one of my dear friend's lost her dad and I've been walking through that with her.  There have been moments when I've sat in church, or crying in my bed where I say, "Lord, if this is what it means to follow you then I'm not sure I'm up for it."  But He has held me fast and strong.  When others have walked away He has stayed.  He's made promises to me that I know He is going to keep, because He always keeps His promises.  His goodness and His faithfulness are beyond my wildest dreams.  A love like this can't be found anywhere else.  No one will fill you like Jesus can.  There are still a lot of hurting places in my heart, but I don't feel empty, because I carry the fullness of God inside of me.  It's nothing I could muster up in my own strength.  I'm not strong on my own.

I laughed the other day when a close friend that has known me for over half of my life told me that through all the extremely hard things I've had to walk through I still manage to always have a good attitude.  I said, "You should have seen me sobbing on my couch this morning."  Letting go is hard, but to embrace what God has for us right now we have to let go and keep walking forward.

5.  Look up.

Life is scary if you're only seeing what's going on around you.  Look up. 

6.  Be fearless.

God is in control.  He is with you like a mighty warrior (Zeph. 3:17).  Be strong and take heart.  You don't have to be afraid anymore.  You carry the fullness of God with you wherever you go.  You are strong.  You are brave.  You are fearless.  Because you are His.  It has nothing to do with you.  It's all about Jesus.

7.  Don't call people out, call them up.

Speak identity over people and remind them who they are in Christ.  Your tribe of people that love you and entrust you with their hearts when they share their stories with you, they need you to remind them who they are.  They don't need you to tell them what they're doing wrong.  They just need you to love them and be there with them. 



As the seasons begin to change, part of me wants to panic, because I HATE change.  But as one of my dear friends, and amazing heroes in the faith said, "If our faith was based upon our circumstances, it would be a worthless faith." ~Dustin Manis  I'm believing for the presence of God to fill all the broken, hurting places in my heart this season.  I'm believing it for you too.  I don't know what you're walking through in this season, but I know that whatever it is, it won't last forever.  Life is short.  Look up.  Jesus is coming.  The Christmas season seems to be the easiest time to believe that and to wait in expectation for Him.  You carry the fullness of God inside of you, the hope of the world.  Let's bring hope to a hurting world, because we know the God of all hope.