I like summers. The opportunities to do such things as visit family members who live far away and enjoy such holidays as Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day all work together to make summer special. And, oh yes, it’s nice to have my birthday smack-dab in the middle of it all.

 

Being married to a school teacher means that Fall, Winter and Spring are always hectic, not only with church activities but also school programs. Summers allow us to spend more time together as a family. Before a married couple know it, their children are somewhere else during the summer, raising their own children. The words to the song “Sunrise, Sunset” from the musical “Fiddler on the Roof” are true: “So swiftly fly the years”.

 

Having shared the glory of the summer months, let me be quick to say that I look forward to “the glory of the grind”. With the beginning of school, many families find their lives becoming much more routine, much more “rutful”. There is a glory in the routine, in the ruts that we follow week after week. Jesus told his disciples, “Do not grow weary of well doing.” As school begins and the Fall months come upon us, we have the opportunity to do a great deal of good through the routines we establish.

 

As we pray, as we seek God’s guidance for how to use our minutes, our hours, our days, and our weeks, there may be much good, joy, and fulfillment “in the grind”. But we must exercise faith, trusting God to direct us into greater fulfillment of our lives.

 

The presence of Jesus is the very presence of the Kingdom of Heaven. Seeking his presence day by day in our lives, seeking His will for each day, brings glory to the grind.