Time with the Lord offers peace in otherwise crazy summer

Here’s what I know: The older I get, the faster summers go — or at least that’s my impression of things.

This crazy-busy life when the kids are involved in umpteen activities can get a little overwhelming at times. Both Marv and I agree that last summer with all six of us experiencing Alaska together in our fifth-wheel camper was much easier than this summer.

By Rita Meyer
By Rita Meyer

Marv, as a chaperone, and Emma, as an attendee, just returned from a week in Washington, D.C., on a 4-H Citizenship Trip. I gladly stayed home and held down the fort, which meant I trucked the three youngest to their funsies — strength and conditioning, swimming and baseball.

Plus, we road-tripped out to Mom’s in western Minnesota and my sister’s place near Watertown, South Dakota, for a family gathering and returned with two of my nieces for cousin playtime and sleepovers. Meanwhile, both the peas and the beans in our large garden were producing at the same time and required near daily picking.

Again, I say, where do people get this “lazy days of summer” notion? It just hasn’t happened, as far as I can feel. But, that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop my search.

I have this dream of finding the perfect little place alongside a lake where I can’t see my neighbors and the loons wake me up in the morning. It’ll be within an hour or two of our home, and it won’t require a ton of upkeep every time we run up to the cabin just for a little break in the hustle and bustle of life.

Keep dreaming and looking, you say? I know, the place may only exist in my mind.

Here’s what else is on my mind — the crazier things get, the more I need the Lord. If I rush into my day bent on starting to check things off the infamous to-do list without first finding some time to be alone with the Lord, things don’t go very well. In fact, the more I discipline myself on “quieting my heart” and just being still, the more I can feel him.

Every day, he shows up just to be alone with me. Me. He cares enough to be with me. How great is that? He’s the only one who gives me total contentment. He’s the only way to be filled. Satisfied. Totally loved.

That’s what it all comes down to. He loves me. He has this plan for my life that he reveals day by day. Sometimes I don’t have a clue what it is; other times I can clearly see my role in doing his will.

Lord, thank you for your love. Give me the grace of being alert to your presence and to believe in it at all times, wherever I am, every day of my life. Please continue to shower me with the peace that comes only from following you. Amen.

Rita Meyer is married and the mother of four children age 17 and under. She and her family are members of St. John the Baptist Parish in Meire Grove.

  Share:

Author: The Visitor

The Visitor is the official newpaper for the Diocese of Saint Cloud.

Leave a Reply

*