How to Savor Your Season

It’s probably no surprise that I LOVE summer. Give me all the long days, and sunshine, and humidity and being outside.

I start anticipating summer like as soon as March 1st hits and can’t wait for it to get here because to me it feels like childhood with freedom and fun and no responsibilities. I always have long lists of things I want to do and experience.

But it never really looks like that does it? Summer gets busy. Whether it’s because your kids are out of school or you’re attending 37 weddings or you’ve got vacations planned and other things that take up your nights and weekends, summer can feel a lot more tiring than the rest of the year.

A couple weeks ago I was talking to God in my quiet time and kind of started panicking because it felt like summer was already over. First of all, it was the first week of July…so clearly, I needed to chill, but the calendar for the next few months was looking full already and there is still so much I haven’t done that I wanted to and to be honest, I was already dreading shorter days and it getting cold again. But before I got too crazy, I felt the Lord say:

Summer is supposed to be savored.

While I was there trying to grasp for time to slow down and trying to not look ahead, God was extending an invitation that maybe, just maybe, there is a way to savor this season. And this wasn’t just about summer, this was about just the season of life I am in.

But how? How do we not rush from one thing to the next? How do we find joy now, but not fear the grief that will come with change? Does anyone else think this way or is it just me?

When I asked God those questions, I turned to see what Scripture said and at how Jesus did this. And I’ve found 3 things we can do to savor the season we are in:

1. Slow down: As I’ve read through the Gospels, I’ve noticed Jesus was never in a hurry. He retreated to be alone with God. He slept. He ate with friends. He did what he came to do, but he gave his all to it because he wasn’t in a rush. He didn’t try to fill his days to the brim, he left room for margin and to be interrupted along the way. Even when the disciples tried to add to his schedule, he didn’t let that distract from his pace or from what he set out to do.

2. Stay present: Another thing that strikes me about Jesus is that he was fully present where he was. Whether it was talking to someone, or healing someone, or praying alone, he was present in where he was. He came and was present on earth. He knew was the future held, and he let that drive what he was doing. And he told his disciples not to worry about tomorrow, but to focus on today.

Instead of rushing ahead and looking at what’s coming up—finding things to look forward to and be excited about, or looking down at our phones or gazing back wishing things were like they were before, what if we just were present? We may not miss as many things if we did.

3. See the good in front of us: Over and over in the Bible we see a challenge to fix our eyes on good things. Like in Philippians 4:8, whatever is true and noble and right and pure and lovely and admirable and excellent and worthy of praise. We are called to present our requests to God with gratitude in the midst of anxiousness. When we fix our thoughts on the goodness of the Gospel and of grace, we can better savor where we are.

Now, I don’t know what season you are in currently. Maybe you’re in a season with a lot of struggle and suffering. Maybe you’re thinking, “That’s great Meghan, but I can’t slow down right now. I don’t want to stay in this season because I don’t see any good in it right now.” And I get that. The feeling that there’s nothing to savor. When you in a season you just don’t want to be in.

There is a fourth thing we can do, and that’s surrender. And that’s what Jesus did. When he prayed in the garden and begged God, please, if it’s possible, take this cup from me. There was no slowing down what was about to happen. And I doubt being present in that pain was something he wanted to do. And what good could possibly come from the pain he was about to experience.

But then he said: “not my will but yours be done.”

Jesus knew. He knew that while dying on a cross was not something to savor by the world’s standards, God was going to use that very thing to change the world. There was good coming from that. And while I don’t know your circumstances, I know our God. And I know seasons come and seasons go, but he’s there and he has something for you in it. Whether we see good come from it on this side of eternity or not, we can savor the season we are in because he’s good.

Our salvation is something to savor.

So as we anticipate school starting, and vacations ending and dare I say it, going back into the office…can we look to Jesus as an example of how to savor today? And tomorrow? And whatever lies in the season in the one to come?