Summer Like It's A Verb
Or, How Tom Papa is helping with my Summer aspirations
The comedian Tom Papa has a great bit about how rich people “treat summer like a verb.” They “summer,” but for him, “summer happens, and I deal with it.”
I know most of us aren’t going to the Hamptons to “summer” but I, for one, don’t want summer to just “happen.”
I want to be intentional about these beautiful two months, where things generally slow down and my children are home from school.
I want to summer like it’s a verb.
How about you?
Not Too Late For A Plan
One of my favorite things about July and August in our church is how we intentionally slow down in these two months to give our staff, leaders, and volunteers a chance to rest, recharge, and reflect on where God is leading us.
For me, that means doing different kinds of work. Work that is good for my soul and good for the future.
But in order to do summer well, I have to have a plan.
June is usually when that comes together. I’m preparing for the Fall sermon series, praying through next steps with our leaders, and discipleship.
But I’m also thinking about who I want to be at the end of July and August.
By the end of this summer, I want to be a more present follower of Jesus, husband, dad, friend, and pastor, so I’ve developed a few goals to help me.
By the way, it’s not too late to “Summer” well. Take some time in this long weekend (If you’re in the States) to reflect on who God is inviting you to be this summer and lean into it.
Here are a few of my goals this summer. Hopefully, it will help give you some vision for what’s possible.
Bye-bye, Social Media
I’m taking July and August completely off any social media.
I go through periods where I’m better at managing my relationship to social media and other times when I don’t.
I’m not having a particularly good moment with it right now. I turn to it far too frequently, so I felt called to a Social Media Sabbatical for the summer.
I’m a couple of days into it and already glad I made that decision.
Read A Lot
Our whole family went to the local library last week to sign up for the summer reading challenge. I read a lot for school and for sermon studying anyway, but this was a way for our whole family to engage in reading together.
Our oldest just finished kindergarten and is reading short books on her own, which is so fun! We want to foster that in her and help our youngest continue to enjoy books.
My wife and I also try to read as much as we can instead of being on our phones to help model that for our children as they grow.
My own personal reading plan includes preparation for a class I’m taking at Northern Seminary this August called “Christianity and Pluralism,” reading for our fall sermon series on life together in community, and some other little research-related things I’m curious about.
I think I have one fiction book lined up…I need to do better with reading fiction.
Does anyone have good recommendations?
Help me!
Write More, Post Less
Since I shifted my old blog to Substack in September, I’ve tried to post either weekly or bi-weekly. It’s been a combination of old blog entries I wanted to repost, modified essays I’m writing for seminary, and original articles.
My main goal with getting back into writing was just to do it regularly.
The public format has been a form of accountability for me to keep showing up, and I think my writing has benefited greatly from doing so.
I’ve loved interacting with new friends in the Substack space, and have been grateful for 120 subscribers who regularly read my writing!
As I think through the several draft articles sitting unfinished, I know they require a lot more thought and careful handling because of the subject matter.
I want to give time to them because they are important subjects, but it will mean I have to assume a different writing rhythm.
So this summer I’m going to try and write more, but post less. (We’ll see, before hitting publish on this, I just wrote a whole other post about All-Age Worship that will drop Monday for anyone planning their ministry calendars!)
Exercise
I try to exercise at least twice a week, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen.
The summer affords me fewer evening meetings and more space to get into a workout right after work without having to worry about going back out.
We also started a summer futsal group playing in our church gym, which has gotten me back into playing the beautiful game a bit.
We should offer more prayers of thankfulness to God for giving us bodies that can move and do amazing things, like deftly slide a ball past a defender before kicking the hell out of it into their goal. :)
There’s nothing quite like it.
Adventure
We’ve been compiling a list of summer activities with our daughters for the past couple of months, and we are ready to execute!
They want to set up a lemonade stand on our street, go to some museums in the city (they’re the best kids ever), visit my parents in Maine, and many other things.
They’re getting older. After this next year, we will have two of them in elementary school and will have them home so much less.
I’m feeling the loss a little as I write this. My kids are so fun to be with, I enjoy them immensely, but I also feel the twinge of loss with each passing day.
We want to soak up moments and be present as much as possible. Life with them is such a gift.
Silence and Prayer
Sitting alone with God for large chunks of time is one of the most profound practices in my life.
I don’t have to do anything to earn God’s love. Just show up.
There is a security in just being with Jesus, not trying to get anything done, that continues to surprise me. I need more of that.
The slowed-down ministry pace in the summer allows me to do just that. I’m looking forward to it.
Like It’s A Verb…
I hope some of what I’ve shared gives you ideas of how to lean into an intentional summer.
What are you intentionally planning this summer?
I would love to hear what God is leading you into.
Whatever it is, don’t let summer happen to you.
Summer, like it’s a verb.