Summer...Rest?

One of my friends shared a post on Facebook this week in which she said she felt like a bad mom because she didn't allow her son to play on the All Stars team this summer. She said the schedule called for practices three days a week and games Friday-Sunday every week. My friend said she just couldn't make their family schedule juggle enough to make it happen and she felt like she didn't measure up as a mom because of it.

Oh, my heart!

Ryan and I don't have kids, so of course we don't have valid opinions, but we have said before that if we did have kids, we wouldn't want to always have a thousand commitments. We like being home too much!

We may not have kids, but our schedule-for-two is about to wear us out this summer. We've been trying to apply the brakes so we have a little bit of down time, because I'm pretty sure part of the reason I wound up with a summer cold this week is from lack of rest

Rest is a good thing.

I remember my childhood summers, filled with sleeping in (and staying up late), swimming at the neighbor's pool, sitting on the back porch swing after dinner, watering the plants in the garden, blasting through the library's reading program, attending Vacation Bible School at church, and taking a family vacation together.

Those were grand days. Plenty to keep me busy, but not so much of a schedule that the whole family dropped in weariness at the end of the day.

Those are the days I want to enjoy even as an adult this summer. Evening walks with Ryan, visits to the ice cream stand, fireworks over the lake, grilling dinner, naps in the hammock, and evenings by the fire pit.

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not judging those who put their kids in summer sports with busy schedules. But it makes my heart sad when those who can't make it work or choose to opt out in favor of some rest feel guilty and worry that they've not measured up.

We all need rest. God knew that! He built in a whole day for it! But we're conditioned to be so busy making memories - even good ones! - that we fail to rest as much as we should, I fear.

Last night, after an evening of busyness, we went on a walk and in the slowness, look what we saw!

It's good to slow down and notice the deer.

It's good to come home and curl up with coffee and old Matlock episodes.

It's good to savor the summer and not feel guilty if you can't (or won't) do it all!

Soak up the summer rest, my friends.