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I’m sure I speak for most of us when I say that I love, love, love summer. I love the green, the gardens, the fruit, the burgers, the long sunlight, the balmy evenings, the ice cream cones… I could go on and on! And more than even all of those things, I love that summer is a bit of a break from life’s often hectic routine.

But I’ve learned one thing over the years as I revel in the special season of summer, and that is this: one thing from which I never need a break is spiritual discipline. Perhaps I’m the only one (but I bet not!) who’s come to the end of a summer and felt, well, blah in my soul. Lazy. Apathetic. Out of shape. And unfortunately, it’s a lot easier to end up that way than I’d like! Once my regular morning routine loosens up with June’s arrival, finding a few minutes of communion with the Lord easily slips so far down my list of priorities that, frankly, it often doesn’t happen. Fortunately, having wasted precious time during enough other summers helps motivate me to remember: time is still ticking away, I’m still supposed to making the most of it, and these are precious days in which God wants to speak to me, change me, and use me. Will I purpose to position myself to hear His heart? Or will I flippantly waste an entire summer on relaxation and barbecues?

To be honest, oftentimes my summer habits look a bit different from the rest of the year. This year, for instance, I’ve been chipping away at reading through the Bible in a year. As much as I love having that goal, and a schedule of reading to help keep me on track, I like to give myself a little “vacation” of wiggle room when summer comes. Maybe I’ll get all crazy and only read Psalms one morning. Or only the epistles the next! Or maybe I’ll make one whole week a memory week, and work on a nice big chunk of scripture. But I still do my best to read.

I also do my best to regularly journal. I find this practice helps to keep me accountable and focused as I think and pray. (…because I know I’m not the only one who’s started out praying for the 10/40 Window and ended up making a mental grocery list!) It also helps me to see how God has spoken and moved in my life. During the summer, my often abbreviated devotions sometimes leave little room for journaling, but I “check in” regularly to record what God has been speaking.

Besides praying and reading the Word, however, I find there is one other discipline that I (we?) too easily grow lax in: the stuff we’re feeding our souls. Movies, reading, TV — there suddenly seems to be a bit more time in the day for such things, or perhaps an entire outing is based around a blockbuster hit. Whatever the reason, I’ve often found that the more of those activities I engage in, the more garbage I let slip in. (Let’s face it; how many movies can you watch before you have to start including those with questionable morals? Hmm… Anne of Green Gables, Little Women… Well, that about sums it up!) I’ve learned this, too, the hard way: convictions during the summer need to be shored up, lest I find my soul in worse shape by autumn than it was before.

The bottom line of all of this, really, is recognizing that while summer may be a bit of a kick-back and relax season in some ways, the enemy of our souls is still out roaring, seeking a soul to devour. Nor is God taking time off; He has a plan and purpose for each day, including the lazy hazy ones of summer. And those of us who are on the highway of holiness will probably find that’s it’s difficult to stand still for a few months; there’s forward, and there’s backward.

I want to purpose to make this summer another season of forward momentum in pursuing the Lord.