#10 Summertime (Serious Edition)

Summertime is when you fall deeply in love with things that you wouldn't otherwise. You run barefoot everywhere and the park and field become your new first home and it is a very good thing. It is when you lay in ankle high grass and watch the stars walk from horizon to horizon and then they fall off into the great morning flood. And you fall in love with fast melting sno-cones and sandal tanned feet. And the heat doesn't seem to bother us like it did when it first come on. But we still rush from car to house, house to car taking refuge in the sweet feel of the air conditioning.

Summertime is this almost unrealistic part of our lives in which we are able to run and swim without inhibitions. Summertime brings a love of heat and humidity that saves our frail bodies from the winter chill. Our shirts stick to our backs as beads of sweat bleed down our tanned temples and soak into them. It becomes just right to sit in the park at night and watch the consolations change into the things that we see in our dreams. And in those parks and fields the scent of grass and humidity rush from person to person.

We covet the idea of summer freedom and hold it tightly to our breast as we rush around with our life's loves. Those who we know deeply in a way that only God himself could have orchestrated. And we cling to them, we cling to the idea of them because we know that being alone in the summertime is no way to be. We know that being alone is horrible and, even though we hate our weakness, we still want to be with them.

And within them, in that park, you see her. She is wearing that summer dress and she has bare feet and a flower in her soft hair. And it is then and there that your summertime love starts. You read Oswald to her and whisper into her ear when no one is looking, and you both love the feelings it brings. And together, you run and swim and talk and rest with one another and you learn one another. And this is good, and you thank Him for it and He is glad.

He gives love and joy to those who seek him. In the summertime is when He moves through the warm breeze and hot summer nights when summertime girls will chase summertime boys through the July rain. And it is here that we can see the physical smile of God, when His children bond and play and love and explore His creation together.

Yes, it is in the summertime when we take true ownership of the freedom we are given. When we can read the books that have long eluded us and that make our hearts long for something that it never had before. And we start thinking about changing things and making things better and we do it, we actually do it! We move and shake and toss things into the sun filled air and we love it. And then, a cool crisp wind blows through the park, down the street, through the alley and onto your front porch and it is then that you know. Autumn is coming.

So, you run through the fields of gold one last time and you kiss her on the mouth under the full oak tree and it is right and it is good. And then it is over and you wait once again. You wait for the love of a melting sno-cone and the feel of a sweat filled shirt clinging to your back. And you wait once again for the summertime.