As this weekend marks the unofficial end of summer, it’s a great time to reflect on ways you’ve grown, and what you have learned in this past season.
Hopefully you had a good summer! Mine was the busiest summer I’ve ever had. In all honesty, this is the first time I’m not fully dreading summer coming to an end. With that said, I’m also incredibly grateful for the many blessings I encountered throughout the summer and am hopeful you can reflect on the blessings you’ve received.
Why don’t you take a moment now to reflect on some of the blessings you received this summer:
Now, I want to share the biggest lesson I learned this summer and then offer you the opportunity to reflect on any lessons you may have learned, or any growth you’ve had.
The lesson I learned this summer had to do with listening to God. Although I intend to put God first in all I do, and I try my best to live for Jesus, I give myself about a C- when it comes to how I had been listening to God’s response to my prayers. Rather than yielding and waiting for God’s response, I became very self-sufficient rather than God-reliant in my waiting. What I mean by this is I was trying to control the outcomes, wasting time worrying about things out of my control, and often forgetting how much I need to rely on God instead of myself.
One day about mid-summer, I realized I needed to refocus on listening to God, so I went for a walk by the water to avoid distractions. As I walked in silence, two phrases repeated in my head: Known, Chosen, Worthy, Loved, Enough and Let my calm and peace fill you. The phrase known, chosen, worthy, loved, enough is on a sign in my kitchen, so at first I assumed that is why those words were on my mind,. However, God added the reminder to let my heart be filled with his calm and peace (and that part is not written on a sign in my home).
I encourage you to find some quiet time to sit with God and truly listen to him today. Along with that, my prayer for you is that you, too, know that you are known, chosen, worthy, loved and enough, no matter what you are going through or if you are currently feeling otherwise.
Once you have taken time to listen to God, I’m hopeful you stay focused on his message, because I did not. Over the coming weeks after that walk, God provided several opportunities for me to rely on his calm and peace, but guess what? I continued to follow my own path, letting the chaos of everything around me continue to fill me with worry rather than peace.
About a month later, it seemed as though even more things were going wrong and I was overwhelmed with the chaos of the busy surrounding me. The final straw (which is a long story, but to quickly summarize, it seemed as though I had a raccoon problem in my attic). After making several phone calls about the situation, and realizing the potential financial burden, among other things that I might be facing, I sat down on the floor. With tears forming in my eyes, I began to pray. As I prayed, I said out loud, “Okay, God, what am I missing? What do I need to learn from this?”. As I finished saying those words, I heard God’s answer loud and clear, and it was “ME! You are missing ME!”. And there. it. was.
In that moment, I once again remembered the importance of handing everything over to God. After I did that, things started to improve. After having roofers and an animal control person at my house, I found out I did not have a raccoon problem in my attic (and still have no answer for the things that had occurred). Along with that issue disappearing, other things I had been focused on and worrying about have started moving in a more positive direction too. My purpose in sharing this is that we tend to fall back on our old ways, mine being that I forget how much I need God in every piece of my life (I wrote a similar post last summer when I had done the same thing of forgetting to trust God. I am so grateful for God’s patience and forgiveness).
What are the habits you seem to fall back on? Maybe you are like me and try to be too self-sufficient, or maybe your habits are something else. No matter what they are, take some time to talk to God about them and reflect on why you might keep falling back on old ways. Then, pause and really listen for his discernment and have courage to follow his lead.
I encourage you to take time to write down how you have grown this summer – whether it has been growth in your faith or in other areas of your life. Taking time to journal about and reflect on our growth is a great way to track progress. It is also a good way to hold ourselves accountable for striving toward growth as we can recognize when we begin to fall back on old habits. Remember to ask yourself often if you are really listening to God.
To conclude in prayer: Heavenly father, as summer comes to an end and we begin a new season, I pray we remember to rely on you, to talk to you, to listen to you. I pray for your continued discernment and guidance in all that we do. In Jesus name, Amen.
