What plans do you have for the summer?

It is the first official week of summer, which always sets my brain in motion considering all the ways I can maximize this idyllic season of sun and fun.  After all, we live in the Shangri-La of summer destinations. People pay big bucks to vacation here. I always have lofty expectations when I think about what I will do with the arrival of my cherished summer days:

• Fun with family and friends
• Eat healthy  (Lori translation = eat less sugar)
• Exercise more
• Re-organize my office
• Read books
• Tackle home projects, aka: clean all the closets and drawers in the house
• Organize my non-digital photos

Now that the mental list has escaped my brain and landed on my computer screen, I am feeling anything but the carefree days of summer. (Except for the fun with family and friends part.) Can you say “overwhelming?”

This summer, I refuse to fall into the trap of wanting to accomplish. I am not even going to make a list. My daughter always gets on me for listing and numbering things, anyway.  Out with the list, in with just one word.

REST

At our leadership appreciation lunch a few weeks ago, we recapped an exciting year of ministry and then I left our wonderful leaders with one exhortation:  Use this summer to REST by spending time with the Lord.

“Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” Mark 6:31b

Jesus extends this invitation to each of us, to slip away and find true rest by spending time with Him.

As I was wrapping up this blog post, I heard the “ding” signaling that I had incoming mail and checked my inbox to discover that my dear friend Donna Jones had just posted on her blog… about REST!  Hmm…. God is definitely driving home this idea of resting in Him. So I am going to let you finish reading about the true rest we find in Jesus by skipping over to her website.  If you have not subscribed to her blog, you will want to do so today. Donna is our Bible study teaching leader, an outstanding speaker and writer and has a new book coming out July 15^th called Seek: A Woman’s Guide to Meeting God. More on Seek in an upcoming post. For now, here’s the link to her blog:

Click here to go to Donna’s blog.

Donna even lists suggestions on how to help us rest in Jesus this summer. And you know how I love a good list:)