summer inside your heart

Things I love most about summer...

1) Walking along the beach as the sun goes down. Seeing the sky change colours. Feeling at peace. You just get the feeling as if everything is right with the world.

2) Lying on the dock after a swim across the lake, feeling the sun warm your skin. Listening to the sound of the water as it laps against the dock while reading your Bible and watching the sun rise.

3) Roasting marshmellows and making smores while having some quality campfire talk with close friends.

4) Walking through the woods alone in the morning. Hearing the birds, talking to God.

5) Water. Love it. The cold, wet feeling on your skin is refreshing after sitting in the sun all day.

6) Sunsets.

7) Stars at night over the lake. If you're lucky you get to see the red moon rising. I saw one last year while camping, it was... uniquely beautiful.

As much as I love winter, the snow, the pure beauty of it (until it's been ruined by snow plows, cars, and multiple footprints that is), I also love summer. Spring is my favourite season of all time. New life, sunshine, flowers. In spring you get the feeling of coming out of a dark place. The dark, sometimes dreary winter is over and now summer can begin. But summer, summer has this atmosphere to it that you can't find anywhere else. First off it's warm, but at night it cools down enough to need to snuggle up in that comfy sweater and sit by the fire with some good hot chocolate. In summer you can spend the whole day outside, you can swim (i absolutely love water), water-ski, tube, zip-line (ahh camps days...). There's just this feeling you get when summer first starts, the first warm day of the year. It's like nothing else. It's almost as good as the type of feeling you get when you come out of a hard time in life and enter into the period of absolute peace. Your heart just heaves a sigh and then... peace. There's warmth, light, even when the darkness comes it's still amazing. That is the kind of peace that resting in God brings. The same kind of peace you get when you finish school and get to look forward to a stress-free summer of good weather. Sure the storms come every so often, but once you have that first summer experience, the memory of it never goes away. It gives you the ability to enjoy the winter, but at the same time look forward to that peaceful summer feeling again. Though other things in life may still be crazy, there's summer inside your heart.