After a late spring rain when the sun finally peeks out and I step out my front door, the word “fresh” always comes to mind. Ah…I take a deep breath, which just shows how the freshness makes me feel. When something is fresh, it is new and renewing. And there are times when we need refreshing. Summer can often provide that as we enter the season of vacations and maybe not less busy schedules, but at least different ones.
My husband and I had a friend who said that we must find rest in the rhythms of life, looking for those moments in the ebbs and flows of our routines to refresh our spirits because life always seems to be careening forward down this track to the tunnel of eternity.
How do we make the most of our time and find refreshment in the midst of the buzz of it all?
I guess it’s like the little arrow-drawn-in-a-circle icon on the top left corner of my web browser on my computer screen. When a web page won’t load or my computer freezes, I need to hit the refresh button or the restart to get things going again.
My spirit, body, and mind need those times, too, when I feel that I have been processing on high for so long. It’s as ifI have too many tabs open and my internal processor is jammed. That’s when I need to hit the refresh button spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally.
That’s what most of us are likely anticipating now as summer approaches and that finally-warm weather signals to us that times of refreshment are coming. This summer I hope to refresh in a number of ways: cool lemonade on a hot day, spending time outside with my husband and girls, reading novels, taking walks, and getting together with friends.
All these are important, and I hope you are able to do many of these things this summer. We all need breaks to be ready to minister to others again once the busy fall ministry season begins.
But what about spiritual refreshment? Here are some thoughts to consider about refreshment for your summer months.
God values rest. We too easily forget that though He didn’t have to rest, He still set the pattern for us by resting on the seventh day after six days of creating the world. He also provided for His people Israel with various feasts throughout the year that were weeklong times of feasting and celebration or remembrance. It’s totally right and good to plan for and take time off. God will care for things in our absence.
God values time with you. Taking a more extended season for spiritual renewal will refresh your spirit and restore those places that have been dry, parched, and cracked with longing for the Living Water of His Word and Spirit. Block off time with Him, even if it’s just a few extra hours on a Saturday morning while your husband takes the kids for ice cream and to the park.
God values refreshment by one another. Various times in Paul’s letters, he refers to saints who bring refreshment to him. In Romans 5:32, Paul expresses his longing to come to the Roman believers that he might have “joy and be refreshed by your company.” Find others who fill you up, and be encouraged through the body, even if it just means going back through some of your favorite Flowers’ writers’ articles this summer to be filled up with the companionship with other pastors’ wives who know what it’s like to walk this road.
As the summer opens, may you be refreshed in spirit by God’s Word. Allow God to serve you and minister to you in that rest as you hopefully have time to rest from serving others for a time. You can count on this: God has no bluescreen of death or endlessly circling refresh arrow. He will fill you, regardless of how much time you feel you have for it.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:8). Guaranteed.
