Are you ready for summer? Have you planted your garden? Put out your flowers? Wrapped up the spring cleaning? Put away the snow shovels? Many of us have our list to get ready for summer. My list includes setting out the hummingbird feeders, putting up the hammock, getting the porch furniture set up and a few other things.
Getting ready for summer can also include stocking up on a few helpful things like mosquito repellant, sunscreen and wasp traps.
When I think about these personal items to be summer ready, there are also some things that we could be a repellant or resistant for. Consider these ideas:
- Deception repellant: The world in which we live has lots of deception, distortion, white lies, grey truths and tweaked information. In order to repel and ward off this all too common malady, we need to keep truth as our deception repellant and no one does truth better than Holy Spirit. Indeed, Jesus frequently refers to Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth and in John 16:13, Jesus says that Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth. To be deception repellant, let’s be Holy Spirit attracted! Let’s be willing to allow Holy Spirit to lead us and let’s prioritize truth!
- Fear repellant: Another common malady in our world is fear and we would be wise to take a few minutes to consider the varieties and expressions of fear that are so pervasive around us and maybe even in our own thinking and outlook. As we consider fear, do you notice fear growing or getting more intense with certain things: various people, behaviors, conversations or activities? For me, I noticed that I became more anxious and fearful during the heavy Covid lockdown, the more I watched the news and tracked the rising numbers around the world. After some time, I figured out how to calibrate my attention so that I could stay informed but not in fear.
I’d also suggest that fear and love are incompatible, based on 1 John 4:18. When we find ourselves being highly fearful, perhaps the best antidote is to make ourselves all the more available for God to love us. Genuine love repels fear.
- Burn resistant: Sunscreen is a necessity for those of us who have fair skin and enjoy being outdoors throughout the summer. For myself, I can easily forget to put on sunscreen, and then I get to work through the sunburn experience, uncomfortable, itching and peeling. As we think about sunscreen, let’s be certain that we don’t let our lives have Sonscreen, any form of disconnecting with Jesus, God’s Son. It’s easy to fill our lives with activities, responsibilities, fun outings, vacations, etc. – particularly as we exhale out of the Covid restrictions. Sometimes our lives can overflow with all kinds of things, such that we inadvertently have put on Sonscreen and neglect to stay in Son love, keeping Jesus as our first and essential love.
With celebrating the beginning of summer, let’s allow these helpful tools (mosquito repellant and sunscreen) to remind us of staying connected with Jesus!
