What If This Summer Drew You Closer to God?
Slowing down doesn't have to mean drifting away.
Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels
What if this summer became more than a break from your routine? What if it became one of the sweetest seasons of your walk with God?
Summer has a way of quietly changing our rhythms.
School lets out. Vacations begin. Evenings get longer. Calendars look different. Church schedules sometimes slow down, and Bible studies may meet less often.
None of those things are bad.
In fact, I believe seasons of rest are one of God's good gifts.
But at one of our recent Bible studies, a prayer request stayed with me.
A young woman asked us to pray that she wouldn't become lazy this summer. She didn't want to become so relaxed that she wasted the season.
I haven't been able to stop thinking about that prayer.
Not because summer is something to fear, but because it reminded me how easily our spiritual rhythms can quietly shift when our daily routines do.
The writer of Hebrews says,
"We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it." (Hebrews 2:1)
Have you ever floated on a raft or an inner tube at the lake?
The sun is warm. You're laughing with friends. Everything feels peaceful.
Then you look up.
Your heart skips a beat.
You're much farther from the dock than you realized.
The peaceful feeling is suddenly replaced with one thought:
How did I get all the way out here?
You never decided to float away. You were simply enjoying the moment, unaware of the gentle current carrying you farther from where you started.
Spiritual drift often happens the same way.
Most of us don't intentionally walk away from the Lord. We simply allow changing routines to carry us where we never meant to go.
The good news is this: the moment you realize you've drifted is also the moment you can begin making your way back to the dock.
Our Father isn't standing there waiting to shame you for drifting. He's inviting you back into His presence, where you've belonged all along.
Jesus never asked us to stay busy.
In fact, He invited His disciples:
"Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while." (Mark 6:31)
Rest isn't the problem.
The danger isn't slowing down. The danger is forgetting the One who gives us true rest.
What if drawing near looked simpler than we think?
Maybe it's lingering over your morning coffee a little longer because you're talking with the Lord.
Maybe it's opening your Bible on the porch before the rest of the house wakes up.
Maybe it's turning an evening walk into a conversation with the Lord.
Maybe it's pausing during vacation to thank Him for the beauty around you.
Maybe it's reading a Psalm with your family before heading out for the day.
Not because you have to.
Because you get to.
Jesus said,
"Abide in me." (John 15:4)
He didn't say to abide only when life is structured or predictable. He invites us to remain with Him in every season.
A Summer Invitation
As you step into the rest of this summer, spend a few quiet moments with the Lord and ask yourself:
Have my spiritual rhythms quietly changed along with my routine?
Where has God given me more margin, and how can I use some of it to draw near to Him?
What is one simple way I can invite Jesus into my everyday moments this week?
Summer will come and go.
The routines of fall will eventually return.
But Jesus' invitation remains the same:
"Come to me..." (Matthew 11:28)
My prayer is that this becomes one of the summers you always remember.
Not just because of the places you visited or the memories you made, but because it was the summer you grew closer to Jesus.
With love,
Mireya
