The Dog Days of Summer

I have always found the phrase "the dog days of summer" a bit confusing. The phrase seems to evoke a kind of slow or prolonged enjoyment of summer before the busyness of fall is upon us. I don't know about you, but the time leading up to fall is one of the busiest times of the year...hence my confusion. Amidst all the the end of summer parties and the back to school parties are the preparations for a new school year, getting those last days in at the pool/beach (or lake in my case) and for those with full time jobs (not too long ago I was among you!) you feel some of the laid back summer attitude slowly slipping through your grasp. In other words, it is back to the business at hand before summer even ends.

If we aren't careful these things can overwhelm us. These things can rob us of our joy and contentment in the Lord and they most definitely can make us take our eyes off Him. I have had to fight against this myself recently. I am about to enter a very new phase in my life. If you had asked me 10 years ago when I was graduating from college (that really hurts to admit it was 10 years by the way) if I would be embarking on a new career path and going back to school, I would have laughed at you. The 22 year old me and the 32 year old me would have found each other quite amusing.

Monday morning I will set out on a new journey where excitement and insecurity abound. I can't wait to start attending class at the French Pastry School and learn so many skills I can put to use in a future business and new career. But...and that is a fairly large but...there is insecurity there as well. I might be in my 30's but that doesn't stop me from wondering if I will be any good at this pastry school thing. It doesn't stop me from wondering if my classmates will like me...we all want to be liked no matter what age we are. It doesn't stop me from wondering if I can balance being a wife, a student and a useful servant in my church simultaneously.

What's my point you might ask?! No matter what phase of life we are in or what new adventure we are embarking on, it is so easy to let life take control of us and not allow the Lord to lead. These feelings I am having about starting school again aren't the first time I am feeling them. They are recurring emotions from any other life changing event that has come my way in the last 15 years of my life. I am sure so many of you can relate.

I don't know about you, but I fight against my desire to control my life daily. I somehow think I am doing a good job at it when in actually I am not, hence the feelings of insecurity. If my eyes are on the Lord and I am trusting that he has led me to this place at this time to work towards something that will help me better glorify him in someway, why would I ever feel insecure? When I have an audience of 1 to glorify, my motives for how I live my life change. I find myself not worrying about if I will be any good at his school thing or if people will like me. And I can trust that God will help me fulfill all the roles in my life because He has called me to it. In other words, by stopping the pattern of thinking only about myself, I think about the Lord and what he wants and while the road may still be bumpy at times, I can trust that He has things under control. (I will need to remind myself to come back and read this over the next several months as my sin nature creeps up time and again ;-))

 Can I ask you a question I ask myself sometimes? What is one of the greatest detriments to the christian faith?  If I took a poll I am sure I would get some very long lists with many different answers on it. Laundry lists of sins and the people and things that aid us in our sin. What it all boils down to though is that followers of Christ allow life on this planet to become more important than the life we look forward to in our eternal home. Yes, we have to live and work and eat and be viable contributors while we are here, but when we take our eyes off the Lord we end up doing these things with only a worldly gain in mind at the neglect of the work we are to do for the Lord. We tend to care more about our portfolios, climbing the corporate ladder, how many likes we got on Facebook and if our personal opinion on the issues of the day are louder and more profound than someone else's.

It is hard to be a Christ follower in our day and age. This has been a summer like no other in our culture where the very Biblical truths we uphold have been attacked on many levels and some of the very people that have been held up as standards have disappointed us and given us a so called black eye. In spite of all these things, Jesus is still Lord! In spite of all the opinions floating around in the media, Jesus is still Lord! In spite of those times where we feel like we are losing a spiritual battle both personally and as the church, Jesus is still Lord and we can trust that in the end he's got this.

This summer I have had the opportunity to study I Peter with the ladies in my small group and also hear sermons at church as we walked through the book. The title of the sermon series is Hope Alive. I have loved that phrase as I have studied I Peter. Peter shares a great deal about suffering as a christian in his letter but that isn't the major take away. The major theme is Hope. No matter what may come our way, hope is alive in Christ. We aren't promised an easy life on this earth no matter what the property gospel folks might tell you. But we are promised that as followers of Christ he will never leave us or forsake us. What hope we find in 1 Peter 2:9, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

If you have hung in there with me until this point, I applaud you! For many, this is nothing new. If anything you just got a glimpse into my personal thoughts on life right now. They aren't brilliant or profound and who knows how many will even read it....what matters is that God laid it on my heart and if it is an encouragement to even one person then I am glad I took the time to write. The Lord works in mysterious ways and I for one prefer those ways to my own!

All is well here in the Windy City. It is hard to believe we have been here 8 months. There have been challenges but there have been so many blessings. We are thankful for the community that we get to do life with. Be in prayer for us as I begin classes on Monday (I go 5 days a week from 6:45 to 12:45) and as Michael continues a full work schedule and teaches Theology on Sunday mornings. We leave the Dog Days of Summer behind very quickly, but the future is oh so bright with the Lord leading the way! Much love to you all!!