Happy First Day of  Summer!

If you have a Dairy Queen near you, make sure to grab your free ice cream cone today, if you haven’t already!

When I think of summer I think of the beach, smores, lightning bugs, warm weather, being carefree, etc.

I loved summer growing up in New England. My family would head to the beach and freezing water with sand getting everywhere. We would feast on fresh fish, ice cream and salt water taffy.

Summer is usually filled with happy memories. People make plans of what they want to see and do.

I remember several years ago, a few days before my family was headed on vacation, one of my teachers was telling me about his brother helping out at a church on the island we were headed to. My response was super unspiritual, “…but we are going on vacation.”

I was basically saying that we didn’t plan on going to church or including God in our vacation, except for praying before our meals.

Looking back that was a super silly thing to say. Another instance of something I should’ve just kept in my thoughts but not actually said aloud.

It also shows the true contents of my heart. I was being super selfish. I was planning on relaxing in the Caribbean sun. I wasn’t planning on thinking about anything important. I didn’t purpose to make time for God while I was swimming or doing anything else.

Many of us may choose to not include God in our day to day lives let alone on vacation, but that’s not very wise.

God would want us to open our hearts to Him in everything. No matter where we are, God wants to be apart of our lives.

There is so much joy found in putting God and others before ourselves.

Deciding to show up and being willing to be a help or blessing in someway gets our mind off of ourselves and onto others.

Matthew 22: 37-39

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”

No matter if we are on vacation or not, we can choose to show God’s love everywhere we go.

Let’s show up this summer!