A quick glance at today’s thermometer and one would find it hard to believe that end of Summer is soon upon us. Before we know it our neighborhood streets will once again be filled with busloads of school children, talk of Friday night football games will enter the conversations, and life will return to a sense of normalcy. If you are at all like me this time of year is always bittersweet. While I love all of the activities of summer, I welcome the routine that September brings.
I am convinced that we all have a desire for adventure, but are driven to stability and consistency. We long for something new and different, yet are profoundly creatures of habit. This seeming contradiction speaks to how God has wonderfully designed us. Created in God's likeness we have within our spiritual DNA both the desire and the ability to create. Reflecting the unchangeable nature of God's character we gravitate towards consistency. These two contrasting qualities have the capacity to provide strength as we walk in healthy relationship with Christ and endeavor to maintain the personal discipline Scripture requires. Satan, recognizing the potential tension between these two characteristics, attempts to utilize this tension to bring confusion and compromise into our journey. He endeavors to stifle our creativity or leverage it to draw us away from God. He will try to convince us that consistency offers no enjoyment and remind us of our inevitable missteps as we pursue the consistent life.
The refreshing news is that God will faithfully reveal His presence and power in both the creative and the consistent aspects of our life. God's plan for each of us reinforces His creative nature that is within each of us, the Holy Spirit brings a wonderful sense of self-control into the situation, and the grace of God is a consistent covering when we fall short in creativity or consistency.
The heat index is currently 105 degrees, I look forward to a change in the weather pattern... I wish Summer could last forever!