Sweet, Sweet Summer... Well, here we are...it's official...the calendar may not say the first day of summer, but it might as well be. Summer unofficially started weeks ago...and isn't glorious! Maybe you don't agree and well, I wouldn't blame you. The shocking transition from 55 degrees to 85 isn't for the faint of heart and can make some of us even irritated with the idea of a new season. I'm with you...I get it...but I'm here to talk about the good stuff. The stuff that summer dreams are made of. There is nothing like gazing at the greenest, most perfectly trimmed patch of grass and just imaging yourself lying on it, petting it. Ohhhh...this love of freshly cut grass has exhibited itself in me very strangely. I have visions of sleeping on it...I think that is why I took up golf. I can't help but love the perfectly manicured greens. When people aren't looking I stroke that grass as if it were my small, furry pet. How can't you love that crisp smelling field of perfection? And the flowers - is there anything like the sight of orange daylillies (and they are everywhere around here these days) smiling in the breeze - swaying so gently as if singing a lullabye. And the sky so blue you can't imagine that it could be real - contrasting with the crisp white clouds floating by. All of this enticing beauty - beckoning me to be a part of it...stirring a longing in me so pure and so exciting. I long to see a lake - not any lake, but Lake Michigan - part lake, part ocean. Big enough that I can't imagine its end, small enough to believe that it can be embraced. I imagine looking out...hearing the waves crash, the seagulls call, the sandpipers flit way with their tiny little feet. Looking out into the endless blue reminds me that this is all a gift from a Creator that longs to know us so intensely that he would use any noble means possible to get our attention. Which brings me to a breathtaking watercolor sunset. Always unique, always quiet, and always gently asking, "Meet me here again tomorrow?" How kind, how thoughtful, how delightfully loving He is. So do yourself a favor tonight, tomorrow or the next day...go outside - maybe at dusk - check out the canvas near you. Now I know in my postage stamp of suburbia I can't really see the full sunset, but I can see the pink and purple streaks reflecting in the sky and the lightening bugs starting to flicker here and there. Get out there...be quiet, be still, and know that He is God.