I love summer. You have warm weather, longer days, and sun! Summer is one of those times of the year where people are supposed to unwind, vacation, stick their toes in the sand and in general relax. But I have been examining my own life and the lives of those around me and nothing seems further from the truth. People are bustling from one place to the next; creating memories, crafting experiences, waiting in lines, traveling in cars, filling schedules and ultimately being more busy than they were before the summer. And honestly I don’t blame anyone. For just a few months (at least in Michigan) we get beautiful weather and sun, so why not make the most of it? But I find myself in an almost frantic pace and standing ultimately in need of repentance.

Let me explain. In Psalm 51:10 we find the following, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” The writer talks about how God’s action in our repentant confession is not only to clean us, but to steady us. To help our spirit to be fixed. And honestly this is something I find myself struggling with in the midst of all this busyness. I feel like my spirit, my soul, that deepest part of me is getting pulled in so many different directions at times that I just feel hollow….maybe that’s just me.

But I can’t help but think that this might be a shared state. As I peruse social media sites and see all the stuff we are occupying our space/spirit with I wonder if there is not a need for God to renew our spirits to be a bit more fixed, a bit more steady. And maybe this isn’t accomplished through travel, vacation, or more events and activities, but maybe it is through insane honesty before the Divine. In the latter part of this same Psalm the writer declares that God will not “despise a broken Spirit and a contrite heart”. In other words God honors our brokenness, our admission of frailty before him. And I think that sometimes the busyness, the noise of life is just another way we try to convince ourselves that we can be whole apart from God.

But I’m tired. I’ve been too busy. I’m broken and so I repent and long for my Spirit to be made steady again by God’s renewal. I pray that you find the space to experience that same renewal and maybe become a little less busy.