Reflection: Summer has arrived in Manitoba!
My social media feed is filled with posts of graduation pictures and last-day-of-school highlights, and increasingly, conversations both at Bethel and elsewhere turn to discussion about summer travel plans, family gatherings, weddings, and other celebrations.
For many of us, summer offers a change of pace and some rest from the routines of life — whether that involves time at the lake, a break from work and volunteer commitments, visits from family and friends, or time at summer camp.
Sometimes, summer affords us an opportunity for much-needed rest amid lives that are all too often full-to-overflowing. Other times, perhaps, the quieter summer months give us space to be present to the aspects of our lives that hold hurt or pain.
So, this week, I wanted to offer a few reflections on spiritual practices that have sustained me in the summers of my life, and that may spark your own imagination about what practices you might want to experiment with in the coming weeks.
As some of you know, I recently had the opportunity to take some vacation time and get away to Hecla-Grindstone Provincial Park. At the campground, I rented a cabin with a screened porch overlooking the lake. Every morning, I enjoyed coffee and breakfast while reading on the porch, enjoying the sounds of early morning birdsong and delighting in the cool breeze before the day’s heat arrived. In the evenings, it became my ritual to sit in my hammock chair on the porch and watch the sun setting over the lake right in front of me. Summer is a wonderful time to delight in God’s good creation, pausing to give thanks for this gracious gift that is ours without demand or cost.
Another practice that is serving me well in this season of life is creating a daily rhythm of prayer and reflection. Each morning begins with prayer, guided by Take Our Moments and Our Days, an Anabaptist prayer app offering materials for daily morning and evening prayer, which I have loaded on my phone. (Many good resources for daily prayer are available these days!) In the evenings before bed, I pause to write down three things I’m grateful for that day, in my gratitude journal. These bookends have become a reassuring touchstone, steady reminders that whatever the day holds, it is held from beginning to end in God’s care.
Finally, there was a season not so long ago as we were all emerging from the impacts of the past several years, when I found that something as simple as allowing my days to be guided by two simple questions was, in itself, a spiritual practice: What would allow me to rest today? What would bring delight today? Sometimes that led to allowing myself an afternoon nap; other times, it was a hike in the forest, an uninterrupted time with a good book, or time shared with a friend. Creating space for what we need in this way can also be a spiritual practice, a glimpse of a sabbath rest of sorts.
I wish you time for both rest and delight in the coming months, and pray that in the midst of whatever lies ahead, there will be spaces that allow you a glimpse of the Holy One.
- Pastor Kathy McCamis
