Dear Summer,
I’m so glad you’re here. My daughter who is so very literal would remind me that you don’t officially arrive until June 21, but today’s the last day of school for us so I’m welcoming you now.
I almost always have a to-do list near me. If a notebook isn’t physically near me, I’m emailing myself something I want to remember or making a mental list. One of my greatest fears is that I will forget. So I make lists.
But I don’t want to forget to live with you, Summer, either.
I look at our calendar and your days are filling up. We’re going to visit my sister and her family 11 hours away in mid-June. My husband, eight-year-old daughter, and I are going to serve with a local mission team in Guatemala for a week in July. We have a weekend involving an amusement park and St. Louis Cardinals baseball game planned for later in July.
And, of course, the kids and I want to spend many, many afternoons at the pool with our friends. We want to pack our lunches and explore. We want to eat ice cream and read books.
These big plans mixed with these ordinary days are why I love you, Summer. <<Click to Tweet
You welcome a break from routine and foster adventure. In an effort to embrace this freedom and truly live with my kids, I want to write a not-to-do list that fosters joy and peace and grace and freedom.
Christ alone brings those things, but, you, Summer, help give me perspective on how to live.
The Summer Not-to-Do List
- Don’t cry over spilled milk…or crumbs that cover the kitchen floor.
- Don’t get on social media until I give the day to God.
- Don’t always work. Close the laptop. Lay down the phone. Go play.
- Don’t yell. Speak softer and kinder.
- Don’t drive everywhere. Walk where I can.
- Don’t plan every moment of the day.
- Don’t hold on too tightly.
- Don’t always say yes.
- Don’t always say no.
This kind of list will prompt different kinds of check marks and I hope the victories spill over into your friends - Fall, Winter, and Spring. I want to grasp hold of truth so I can live more abundantly regardless of the season.
Sincerely,
A Momma in Kentucky
What are you looking forward to about summer? What does your Summer Not-To-Do List look like?
Kristin Hill Taylor believes in seeking God as the author of every story. She tells her favorite story about how God made her a mom through adoption (twice!) in an ebook called “Peace in the Process: How Adoption Built My Faith & My Family,” which is available at Amazon. God continues to surprise her with all the ways her life is nothing like she expected. Kristin lives in Murray, Kentucky, with her college sweetheart husband, Greg, and their two kids, Cate and Ben.