Four Ways to an Intentional Summer
Has summer had a heyday with your schedule? Better weather, potentially more open school schedule maybe? What other words come to mind with summer? Adventure, freedom, joyful, spontaneous, feasting… Could you imagine using the same words to describe your life with God – better, more open…. There’s a lot of summer-like words that we can live into more boldly as people practicing the way of Jesus.
Here’s 4 thoughts about living Summer 2025 as a more summer-like season of life with God:
1. Schedule rest.
You have to schedule it. Otherwise, everything creeps in. Do you intentionally schedule rest? My phone shuts down from 4:00 on Fridays to 4:00 on Saturdays because we have scheduled that as time our family spends together. We “cease from that which is necessary to embrace that which gives life.” (Thank you, Mark Buchanan, for that definition of Sabbath). Is there a day or the week, an hour of the day, or a week out of one month this summer that you can schedule to reconnect with a few people and with God?
2. Go on an adventure.
Even if you can’t leave home, you can go on an adventure: read a book about a place you’ve never been or watch a documentary on another part of the world. I want to invite you on a spiritual adventure to the ancient cities of Capernaum and Jerusalem. We’re reading the stories of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We have a fireside chat coming up July 1, and I’d love to see what you see about Jesus as you read Matthew. Read a chapter a day this summer with your own question – like, “How was the world Jesus was in like the world I live in today?”
3. Keep the routine.
Sundays are for followers of Jesus what marinas are for boaters: they’re regularly intervalled rendezvous for those journeying life with God. We come together regularly to look around and say, “I’m not alone on this journey.” We rest. We remember God’s story. We receive bread and juice, spiritual sustenance that reminds us that God is with us and in us. We commit to elevating Jesus as King, worthy of our worship and trust. It’s all too easy to lose track of who we are and why we’re here and what exactly is happening in the world. If it’s been a while, come back into the dock and give your soul a moment to join back in and remember.
4. Prepare for spontaneous fun.
That’s right, I said “prepare” for “spontaneity.” What can I say? Some of us have to plan to be unplanned. I’ve gotten a lot of joy out of a generosity practice I picked up somewhere. The idea is to put real cash, an actual bill of money, in your pocket in the morning. And in prayer, ask God: I’d like to give this to someone who needs it today. Please show me. And plan to spend it by the end of the week. If you’re wondering if God has planned a moment for you to be generous, it’ll totally change how you observe what’s going on on the sidewalk, at the coffee shop, or in the break room. Especially if you’re going to be in a new place. Don’t forget that God is with you wherever you go – he is with you! And he will be in you! And he might have more in store for you in that family vacation that allows you to participate in what God is doing in even one moment, for one person, wherever you’re going.
I invite you to join me in an intentional summer of joyful, adventurous, restful, routine life in community – with Kitsap House and with God.
Pastor Megan
