Entering the summer season, nostalgia triggers that old song, "In the Good Old Summertime"; and George Gershwin's song, "Summertime and the livin' is easy; Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high."
Our senses tell us summer is here again when we see the sun set only just before bedtime, and those fields of rippling clover and rising corn; when we smell the freshly-mown grass, those shimmering beds of roses and daisies and dancing daffodils; when we hear the chirping of the crickets and the songbirds and the unrestrained laughter of school children in the streets.
Some of us are still savoring homemade ice cream on sliced peaches, and lemonade, and freshly-picked strawberries. Those tastes won't go away. And we just want to climb a tree and dive daringly into a creek, or go swimming in the lake; or play our country cousins in an un-umpired game of Softball; or win a game of horseshoes against our Uncle George, who hated losing anything.
Advertisement
Shakespeare wrote "A Midsummer Night's Dream." He highlighted "summers in a sea of glory!" He reckoned no tune to be as "sweet as summer." Robert Browning observed, "Wanting is what? (It's) summer."
Jesus described how life for His followers would be watching for the sign that "summer is nigh!" What's so entrancing about summer? Well, there's summer sunshine. Noah's flood over with, the Lord God pledged that "while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (
Genesis 8:22). The psalmist (
74.17) thanked God: "Thou hast set all the borders of the earth; thou hast made summer and winter." Wisecracked Solomon, "As snow in summer ... (so) honour is not seemly for a fool" (
Proverbs 26:1). In contrast, Isaiah (
28:4) figured that only a fool would eat "the first ripe fruit before the summer." You see, snow and cold characterize winter; sunshine and ripe fruit, summer!
Shakespeare suggested we endure "December snow by thinking on fantastic summer." Chaucer hailed, "Welcome, summer, with thy sun. (Thou didst) winter's weather overtake." Poet Emily Dickinson confessed, "When I count it all ... the sun. the summer, then the heaven of God -- and then the list is done."
We believers on the Lord Jesus Christ will daily scan our skies to see the Son "of righteousness rise with healing in His wings." Ever and always we're looking for Jesus. Look to the Son and the shadows of life will all fall behind. Former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church Wilbur Chapman told of his friend who so loved the sunshine that he built his house with three huge windows: one facing east from the kitchen, where he'd eat breakfast; one to the south, where he'd eat lunch; and one to the west, where he'd eat dinner. He revelled in the sunshine.