Summer

How did you celebrate the first day of summer? Did you even know that today is the summer equinox?

Every morning I do a devotion time with my two curious granddaughters. It is always fun to share a little bit about the world with them, so today I announced the begining of Summer and pronounced it official. They widened their eyes and looked astonished because they have been out of school for two weeks now. They believed that their summer began the day they got out of school, but it didn't.

Summer is usually associated with vacations and trips to the beach. Summer reading programs at the library and Vacation Bible Schools keep kids and parents busy. For me, summer is warm outside and cold inside. I wear sweaters to the store because store owners seem to want to bring Jack Frost back to town. I go outside to warm my toes and nose from the artificail arctic blasts of the air conditioners. Watermelon, icy cold drinks, and light dinners give me a lift in summer. It isn't that I go on a diet during the summer, but it is too hot or I'm too busy to chow down a big meal. Summer, even here in Florida, brings a change that tells my inner clock to slow down, relax, and enjoy Gods' blossoming world. So, I always seem to reach for a good book.

Summer books are a different kind of reading than winter books. I tend to look for a tale of epic proportions, one that can't be put down easily. I love books that let me escape. My summer reading choices are ones that bring to life characters and places that truly transport me away from the every day. I choose to become one or more of the characters and live out their adventures in my imagination.

In the past I have become well acquainted with the historical fiction of Eugenia Price. Her Savannah books took me back to the old south and I struggled through issues of slavery and civil war. I hated, and yet loved, learning about the superior mindset that gave the white slaveholders an excuse for owning people as their property. I faced my pride and my judgemental spirit. I was changed.

This summer I have been given the book, The Shack, by William P. Young. I will read it, but then I intend to go back to the Black, Red, and White trilogy by Ted Dekker for the third summer. I can't explain its fascination, I only know I want to be with those characters and in that time and place. I continue to learn from the experiences and thoughts of the characters who journey between worlds. No "Why" is explained for this journey, but there is much to learn about myself within these pages. Maybe next year I'll be invited into a different fantasy. Careful selection will be the key to good summer reading that will change me into better person. I think I'll go read and get my granddaughters to sit down with me with their books.

What do you like to read? Do you read differently in the summer? Share a good book and don't forget to read THE Good Book! Now, that is a book that will change you!