The Glory of Summer

We are deep in the heat of summer. The days are long and hot. The sun washes everything with its glowing light. This year has been an excellent growing season with the rain being just right and the results are gardens laden with vegetables and flowers aburst in all their God-created glory.

It is interesting how when I was younger, I never saw and appreciated the fullness of this season. It was not until years later that I had a dear friend who received a degree in horticulture from Purdue. At first, I was a bit amused by his fixation on the vegetable and floral world. However, one day he shared with me why he entered into that field, and he began to share with me the intricacies and wonder of plant life all about me. As he did, he placed within me a gift of being able to walk down the street on a sun-drenched summer day, and that gift was an awareness of the wonders of God's creation growing all about me in a way that I never fully appreciated before.

The wonders of summer are in many ways an illustration of our walk with God. Jesus proclaimed that "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God!" Our great living God is a spirit being, and unless a person is sensitive to His presence and promptings, he can and will walk through a lifetime without without realizing the fullness and wonder of what a day by day, moment by moment, communion with God can be like. It is through a heart that is pure in its desire of seeking Him and desiring of being obedient to Him that the seeds of faith begin to grow into a vibrant relationship with our living God. He begins to be more that just someone preached about on a Sunday morning. He truly becomes a very real person and His inner spiritual promptings within will be very present as you go through the day. For the beauty of this kind of relationship with God is like that gray winter day turning into summer as we as we see and smell the deep green vegetation around us and he hear the twitter of birds and feel ourselves surrounded by all creatures great and small. As we feel the cool water of the pool, the lake, or the stream, we can likewise know that God has washed us in living waters. And that living water is none other than the greatest gift of all, the wonder of Jesus and a personal day by day relationship with Him.

Love,

Pastor Bob