Spiritual Success In The Summer, Part One [Todd]

In Charlotte-Meck and in Union County, school is out and summer has officially begun! Summer is a great time but it can also be a time when we lose our game a little bit spiritually speaking. So, with that in mind...a couple of posts about maintaining spiritual intensity during the summer. Here's the first of three principles:

1. EMBRACE REST
I am perhaps the world's worst vacationer. I hate not to be at work, I have a hard time unplugging from work when I do break away, and I am too eager to get back. This is not virtue - it is simply a reflection of my temperament. There are lots of good things about my hard-charging, Type A, High D temperament, but this is not one of them. I need to embrace rest. And so I do this in the summer.

Some folks can be recharged by an afternoon or a long weekend away. Not me. I usually don't begin to decompress until I have been out of the game for several days. So, my personal strategy is to hoard virtually all of my vacation time in the summer and take big chunks then. It is good for me, because I am rested. It is good for my kids, because they get me at my best. And it is good for Next Level, because the church gets to hear stretches of voices other than mine (I am blessed beyond measure to have Jared as a fellow teaching pastor).

Regardless of our temperament, it is in times of rest and quiet when we can best hear God. Make sure that you don't let summer become a frantic, tiring rat race when it is one of the few times of the year that can provide rest. Slow down, take extra time with God when you can, sleep in when possible, exercise, eat well, and listen.....