SUMMER SESSION #5-SUMMER NIGHTS

 If you are from my generation, you are very welcome for sticking this song in your head for the rest of the day.  "Summer Nights"



This stage play and movie were about high school teenagers.  I am going to take you back to your childhood.  Summers were wonderful.  LONG days and no bedtime brings back sweet memories.  The coming of the evening darkness did not mean the end of play - especially if someone was visiting with the parents.  The evening sun slowly sank into the horizon (what you could see of it for the trees and hills) and the gathering dusk brought a new level to our play.  As the dark slowly crept in, there was an entire new game scene.  Is there anything more fun than hiding seek or chase in the pitch dark of the evening?  We lived in the midst of acres of trees.  Even if the moon, in all its glory, rose, the overhanging limbs filled with leaves filtered the light.  We never stopped to consider what we might be in danger of running up on or into.  Critters of a different kind inhabit the protection of the light void evening.  And then there was the clothes line--all but hidden waiting to throw the unsuspecting runner for a loop.  Wire fences, rocks, holes in the ground, hidden stumps ...so many perils waiting to trip the unsuspecting runner.  We never slowed down.  It was a running, squealing, laughing free for all.  The evening ended with musty smelling children called in for baths (perhaps a clorox bath) and bedtime.  Those were the best of times.

I still stumble around in the dark occasionally.  The Wonder Dog and I sometimes take an after dark walk in the hood.  There are dim street lights, but plenty of dark stretches on the streets. I have walked these streets enough times, I know my way.   At times I forget to take care of something before I have gone to bed.  It then becomes necessary to get up and take care of locking the doors, turning of outside lights, putting out the garbage ...  When faced with nighttime chores,  I do not believe in turning on the lights, but instead take care of things in the pitch dark of the evening.  I am able to do this, because I know the path.  I have made these steps enough that even in the pitch black of night, I can find my way.

When life brings darkness, when you feel you can no longer find your way, have you made the steps to The Throne of God often enough that you automatically know your way?  When there are no markers, no light, and we are blinded by the grief, sorrow, or pain of life, have we practiced the path enough that we are keenly aware of how to find the path to our Healer, our Protector, our Provider?

Thoughts to ponder as you enjoy the stillness and quiet of the dark of summer nights.

"Trust in him at all times, 

O people; pour out your heart before him;

 God is a refuge for us."

Psalm 62:8


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