As I mentioned in this week’s pastoral note, summer is a complex season! While it is billed as a time of rest and relaxation, just as often it is a time of transition. A time when we are anticipating (with excitement and/or anxiousness) what is next, but also a time when it feels like little can be done to prepare or get us to what is next! So, when we feel the draw of the future and the drag of the present, what are we to do? Perhaps, as I’m experiencing this summer, we are to let such emotions lead us to the source of our fulfillment. Rather than praying for the future, the thing that’s next, we seek communion with the One who’s already where we are going (see Ps. 34).

Will you pray with me as one who feels the “other” emotions of summer, or as one sharing the burden of your fellow siblings—both are welcomed and needed!

Father, You meet me more than halfway! Where I am going, that's where You've come from!

What have I to fear? Why am I so anxious, so restless, in such a hurry?! It's certainly not because I haven't tasted and seen Your goodness. Oh, how good You are!

So, search me, Father who knows me and loves me. See clearly my heart and its longing for more of You, and lead me along the Way to tomorrow in You.

Through Jesus, I pray. Amen.