Me: “WE DID IT!!”
Kyle: “What did we do?”
Me: “Guess!”
Kyle: “Made it through summer?”
Me: Yesss!!!
I know some of you who read this blog are not from Oklahoma, but it’s hot. It’s miserably hot. One day this summer, I got into my vehicle and the car told me it was120 degrees. Every single summer I threaten to leave this state and move north, but, unfortunately, I’m held hostage here.
At this moment it is 73 degrees and rainy. I am sitting on my front porch in my flannel shirt and my boots that were lost for years, but have since been found and returned to their home upon my feet. (There are also pants involved, but saying I had jeans on didn’t speak to the coziness being experienced.) Fall is closer today than it was yesterday!
Birthdays are great. Getaways with Kyle are great. Holidays are…well actually I’m not a huge fan of the chaos holidays bring. Let’s see. The Spring Festival and Christmas programs are great. But my absolute favorite day of each year is this day. The first day when there’s hope that the worst part of summer is behind us.
Yes, Oklahoma has been known to deliver 80+ degree weather on Halloween if it’s not throwing ice storms our way, but the worst part (day after day 100+ degrees)…goodbye!
Okay, drop your shoulders from your ears, lower your tongue from the roof of your mouth, and take a big slow deep breath.
That’s what this day each year feels like to me. Relief. We did it! We made it! The struggle is over for a bit!
This feels like morning to me. Not the hit-snooze-five-times morning, but the weeping-may-tarry-for-the-night-but-joy-comes-in-the-morning type of morning (Psalm 30:5).
Kind of the same way I felt after those nights (or months) of weeping when God would sweep in with restoration. Those times of uncertainty. Times of roads we didn’t want to walk. Times of heartache. Brokenness. Bitterness. Anger. When God would sweep in and heal what was broken. When He would replace sorrow with joy. When He would give beauty for ashes. When He would give you the ability to trust even when you didn’t understand a wretched situation.
He did never called us to understand; He called us to trust.
There’s this incredible college graduation speech I heard years ago that was given by Admiral and Navy Seal, William H McRaven (I feel like with that name being an Admiral and Navy Seal was his only option – what a solid name!). He said that on the Wednesday of Hell Week in Navy Seal Training, trainees would paddle out and spend 15 hours in the freezing cold of the mud flats that made up the Tijuana Sleuths. Nothing, but heads visible. They would endure physical and mental harassment. And on this night the instructors said if only 5 men will quit, we can get out and get to warmth. With eight hours until dawn, one voice rang out in song over the chattering teeth and shivering. It was sung out of tune, but with great enthusiasm. One voice became two. Two became three. Eventually all the voices joined in. The singing persisted and, with it, the mud became a little warmer, the wind less brutal, and the dawn a little closer.
Isn’t it incredible what one voice of encouragement can do. One voice of hope.
If you are up to your neck in the struggle, listen for that voice of hope! God has gone before you. You are not alone nor forgotten! It is the Lord who goes before you (Deuteronomy 31:8). He did it! He makes the way when there is no way!
We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust His holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone. (Psalm 33:20-22).
Bye friends! 🙂