Years ago, a retired pastor told me that he had always felt convicted during his summer vacations. Why? His devotional practices took a nose dive. They became inconsistent and hard to maintain. This made him feel like a hypocrite. “Do I only practice what I preach when I’m working?”
My sense is that his problem wasn’t with vacation in general, but with summer in particular. I also sense that what was true for him is true for others, regardless of whether they are ordained or not.
Summer is different. The weather is nice (for a change). Schedules are disrupted. Many of the weekly rhythms which, from September to June, stabilize our times of Bible reading, prayer, and reflection, begin to lurch. “How do you keep a wave upon the sand?”
Since we love summer—but also love the Lord!—here are four suggestions for keeping faith in summer.
1. Acknowledge the Difference
Step one is as simple as that. “For everything there is a season,” including summer. Acknowledge that July and/or August is not like the rest of the year. The word is pivot.
2. Try Something Different, but Still Faithful
It’s okay to change up your routine, and even your practices. Having said that, we can never depart from the basics, such as Scripture reading, prayer, and worship. When Paul taught the Thessalonians to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17), he didn’t include a footnote that said, “excluding summer.”
If you usually read a chapter of the Old Testament, a psalm, and a chapter of the New, perhaps you can shift gears to a summer in the parables. Or perhaps you can use a Bible app to listen through the Gospels on your morning walk. Change is okay, so long as you remain tethered to the essentials.
3. Go to Church
I’ve noticed a trend. When people are on vacation, they sometimes act as if the Lord’s Day follows suit. It doesn’t.
If you’re travelling, look online to research local churches. These days, most have websites which include belief statements. You can also get a sense of their ministry or mission priorities. Walking into a church “cold” isn’t like it used to be. If you want to visit a church with nursery care—or not visit a church where the worship service is built around drinking snake poison—the internet is your friend.
I appreciate that a church building may not be present on a cruise ship or on a campground. In that case, hold a simple time of worship with your family, or by yourself. Include a few songs or hymns, Scripture readings, and some prayers.
At the risk of sounding harsh, make an effort, not excuses. Weekly worship is a God-ordained discipline to keep our hearts and minds fixed on the Lord, and to ground ourselves in things eternal.
4. Be Obedient in Rest
Many of us struggle with rest. And even when we find time to rest our bodies, our minds are sprinting like a dog at a race track chasing a rabbit that isn’t real.
The separateness of summer can present us with an opportunity: to hit the reset button when it comes to rest. “Oh right, God commands us to rest because it’s good for us. And Father knows best, right?”
And then, when autumn comes, we’ll be better positioned to be obedient and refreshed through the deliberate set-apartness of one day in seven because we’ve just had some practice. Use summer to reacquaint yourself with the idea that 24/7 is a lie designed to deflate your soul.
Let me also offer a very basic reminder that sleep is also rest. Lewis Bayly called it “a medicine to refresh thy tired senses and members.” Don’t feel guilty for hitting the snooze button.
To recap, summer is different. Acknowledge that fact. Try something different, but still faithful. Go to church. Be obedient in rest.
When a basketball player pivots, they are often doing so because the path before them is no longer an option. They shift gears and look around for the next best play. Even though they have to shift gears, they are still playing basketball, and the goal of the game is the same.
Let’s not get thrown off by summer. We may need to change how we do things, but we are still glorifying God for the kingdom of Christ.
