Summer ... Pressure Release

Summer is like a smashed thumb. Hang with me here for a minute. I'm not making this up.

For me, Mother's Day started a day early with breakfast in bed, served by my sweet husband and two kids. I ignored the sounds coming up the stairs and stayed where I was instructed. It was worth it! The next morning was full for us, with duties at church, so Saturday's breakfast was a real treat.

Sunday, our small group planned to have Mother's Day together. The dads set the table with china and linen napkins, made all the side dishes (ok, I think there was some covert assistance, but it was basically "Daddy made"), served us like we were at a five star restaurant, and cleaned up. We felt pampered and honored. One unsuspecting child tried to appeal to a mom for help, and she instinctively started to get up; they were ordered back down to wait for an older sibling to help ... with the explanation that "Mom's on vacation today." It was heavenly. The family was all served chicken (which was great in its own right), and the moms were each served a filet mignon. I almost feel guilty telling you how incredibly they served us .............. I'm over it. :)

But, one of the dads was crippled that day. Earlier in the week, he had smashed his thumb in the car door, and the pressure had been building ever since. By Mother's Day, it was black, bruised, deformed, and enormous compared to the healthy one.Even bumping it as he tried to help caused intense pain. After dinner, he apologized, got out the yellow pages, and said that he had to find medical help. The other dads offered to do a little home remedy, but he declined. He headed off for Urgent Care, and they pierced the thumbnail to release the pressure. They sent him home with the wounded thumb wrapped, telling him he needed to keep forcing it to release fluid that had built up.

Sometimes I feel like that smashed thumb, like I'm about to pop. Life's pressure builds, causing pain and potentially worse consequences. Pressure has to be released. Summer can be that pressure release, and I feel compelled to guard it at all costs. The danger is to fill up "summer" with all kinds of activities and plans and extra obligations, but I need it to be time to let the pressure be released. It's not healthy to allow life to be strained, to build up force that has potentially dangerous consequences. Summer is a great season to let life enjoy a respite and allow those around us to do the same. Jesus modeled the wisdom of taking time to rest in Mark 6. His disciples were experiencing pressure, and they were going to have more to do. He called them away to rest.

Summer is a great time to accept Jesus' invitation in Matthew 11 to rest.

28"(A)Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

How to Release the Pressure this Summer:
1. Put time on your calendar to be "free" and keep it clear
2. Establish some days/space when you will step away from those things that create pressure (might be the phone, computer, certain relationships, duties, etc)
3. Make it a priority to feed your soul with God's Word (I'll be giving some ideas about that in upcoming posts)
4. Make plans to go on vacation, even if it's close by and low cost. Getting away is important ... even Jesus did this.
5. Be intentional to do those things that "fill your well" - exercise? music? quiet? nature? reading? friends?

I'm guarding my pressure release time this summer. How about you?