If you were like me when you were a kid, it seemed like the summers lasted for forever and a day. School let out for the summer in the first week of June, and classes didn’t start back up until September. Back then, summer vacation really seemed like a vacation. But somehow the magic of summer just doesn’t seem quite as magical once you’re all grown up and having to work for a living.
All those endless summer days filled with riding bikes, playing “Cowboys and Indians”, Little League baseball and swimming have somehow been replaced with going to work, mowing the lawn, tending to various aches and pains, and numerous other “adult” activities that are a lot less enjoyable than the ones we enjoyed as youngsters.
This year it seems like summer is just slipping away from us. The sights and smells of the spring flowers are still fresh in my memory, yet here we are, already in the final week of July - and August will surely have come and gone before we even realize that it has passed us by. If you think about it though, the entire year seems to zoom right past us nowadays. When I was a little boy it seemed like birthdays only came around every two or three years, but now it seems like they come in bunches. Like Rip Van Winkle, I fell asleep at 28 and somehow woke up 20 years older.
But there is good news in this story as well. Every new sunrise marks the start of a brand new day, and those of us still alive and kicking can feel blessed when we think about all those folks who pass on at too-young an age. It used to be rare and quite shocking to hear that someone I went to school with had passed away, but now that sad news comes all too often – almost routine in fact. But for now, for today at least, the good Lord has seen fit to allow me to witness the dawn of a new day. It might be a good day or bad day, but either way it will be a blessed day. After all, He has given me at least one more opportunity to wake up and “smell the roses”.
A lot of my friends, loved ones, and acquaintances have already made the transition from this life to the next one. I will too some day, but until then I’ll keep on waking up and thanking the Lord for the privilege. It’s going fast, but it’s still summertime. Likewise, our lives are going fast as well, but we can still enjoy what remains of them and be thankful for the privilege. Every new day that dawns is a bonus – a true gift from God.