Summer Breezes

Summer Breezes

“Here I am surrounded by trees filled with fruit, gardens filling up with ripening vegetables, flower beds in the prime of their life. This is my gift to those who embrace my warm, nurturing breath. I observe people basking in the radiant sunshine. They are enjoying the leisurely mood I have provided for them. As I become aware of their summer playfulness, I am content. I glory in the quality of life that has emerged from the abundance of my sun-saturated season. I have a passion for growth.

It has been a joy to watch you grow, also. From the moment you were conceived to the present moment, your life has been changing. Cycle upon cycle of growth has passed through your days—so much life, so much death. The cycle goes on. I long for you to embrace each new growing season. I want you to experience the passion of abundant life. Between the rising and the setting sun you live the seasons of your life.

Be attentive to my fruitfulness. Listen to my growing and continue to reflect on your own potential for growth. There is a fruitfulness about your life that you’ve not yet fully discovered. Implant your roots deep into your heart’s good soil where a treasure of nourishment waits for you. The roots of all that grows and thrives in my season have gone down deep searching for streams of water to assist their growth. You must do the same if you are to ripen and mature. Reach for that which will help you develop into a mature summer person with purpose and strength.

Reflect on your roots. They keep you grounded. Give them an image and call them by name: hope, faith, patience, joy, enthusiasm, gratitude, determination, endurance. Add others to this list. Envision these roots spreading through your good soil, enabling your summer-like growth.

Believe in your root system. You have growing power in you. Enjoy the process. Let the roots of your growth reach out to the world on lovely greening tendrils. Play a little each day in the fields of your life. Enter into the abundance of the summer within you and around you. Be attentive. Use your five senses to help you live fully.

Ponder these questions and live slowly into the answers.

•  How would you describe the fruitfulness of your life?
• Who or what is a source of growth for you?
• When are you most able to acknowledge your fruitfulness and taste its truth?
• In this season of abundance what is ripening in you?
• As you sit in the lap of summer is there any piece of growing that needs your attention?
• What are the names you would give to your central root system?
• If you were to choose a scripture passage that would be a summer text for you, what would it be?”

From The Circle Of Life: The Heart’s Journey Through The Seasons by Joyce Rupp