Pastor Liv Larson, Director for Evangelical Mission
It's too hot to cook tonight. It's also too hot to insist that the boys get off the iPad, though I want them to. It's almost too hot to do anything. Then I remember the river.
We pack a picnic and head for our new favorite spot. We jump in and swim. Our bodies cool and our brains come back into focus. There is a great blue heron standing upstream in the river and an osprey nest above us. We eat our picnic slowly on shore, one set of toes on each of our bodies wanting to jump back in the cold, healing water.
Summer is weird, rhythm-wise. Folks are always coming and going on trips. Days are long and unstructured, which can be both a gift and a curse. What day is it anyway?
As God's people, each season brings a fresh perspective on our relationship to the Creator, the author of the seasons. What is God up to in summertime? Napping? Swimming? I hope a bit of both.
Earth is also rather productive in summer, bearing all kinds of delicious fruits for our benefit. We can join this creative flow. But I think that participation in the creative life begins with a spiritual practice of slowing down and noticing. Noticing.
Here are a couple of summer prompts for noticing God's movement around you:
What plants have bloomed or gone to seed near you in the last few days? Draw them.
What hills or fields near you have changed in color recently? Write a story or poem from the field's perspective.
What new or different smells greet you as you walk around your neighborhood? List everything you sense.
Color me surprised when I came across a synchronous thought about creative practice, spanning at least 900 years:
Hildegard of Bingen taught that the human soul was the instrument on which God played music. Rick Rubin, music producer and founder of Def Jam records, writes, "No matter what tools you use to create, the true instrument is you. And through you, the universe that surrounds us all comes into focus." What? How are these two souls so in tune that they express a nearly identical thought about God and human creativity?
Let's try it...
Take a slow walk in your back yard or in a nearby park. What colors and smells come into focus? What holds your attention? Heed that. Lean in.
Summer gardens are an embarrassment of riches. (I myself can't grow a single tomato...) But the point is that God, the good Creator, has fashioned you to be a creative leader. And step one of the creative life is slowing down our pace and simply taking notice of everything happening all around us.
Tell me what you find!
Happy noticing,
Liv