I have had some time to think and read this week and it has been good.  I have always believed that we go through seasons in our lives—some seasons are like spring and full of hope and new beginnings and fresh stuff. Some times our lives are like summer where we feel carefree—run through sprinklers, eat ice cream and stay up late playing or in my case sitting outside on the deck reading. Then there is fall. Fall is kind of a time of kicking into high gear—being motivated with the start of school and especially when I worked in the church—lots of great new opportunities and activities. Winter brings a sense of cold with it and sometimes hibernation when you don’t feel like doing a whole lot and just cocoon. At least that is kind of how I feel.

I was trying to think what season I am in right now and I think it is a mixture. And maybe I need to kick it into high gear and move into fall instead of being complacent and satisfied with the fun stuff of my “summerness”.

I was reading one of my all time favorite books “My Utmost for his Highest” by Oswald Chambers. My copy is falling apart but I wouldn’t trade it . I did buy a new modern copy but I find myself going back to my original book because it is familiar and marked up with my comments and underlinings. I have given this book away to lots of folks. Sometimes he is too deep for me to understand but he makes me think and thinking is what I need to be doing more of.

A recent selection talked about moving out of the smooth waters inside the harbor . But it is so nice here.  It is so calm and serene and everything falls into place.  I like it in the smooth harbors, This is what Chamber says:

If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all of your time in the smooth waters just inside the harbor bar, full of delight but always moored, you have to get out through the harbor bar into the great deeps of God and begin to know for yourself, begin to have spiritual discernment.

But the harbor is so safe and serene.  It is quiet and predictable.  I like predictable.  I like routine and knowing what lies ahead. But that is not always the direction that God is directing me.  When I reflect on the times of my deepest spiritual and individual growth it has been during times of challenge and rough waters.  So perhaps today I need to balance my time between the smooth waters of the harbor and choppier waters that lie beyond the harbor.