September

Happy Labor (Free) Day

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Every now and then, it’s nice to have a holiday on a Monday. I wouldn’t want it all the time, seeing as how it makes Tuesday feel like Monday on steroids with all the playing catch-up.

Still, it was great being able to turn off the alarm and sleep in today. My cat Peanut was probably in favor of me not having to get up and be somewhere else at an ungodly hour. She was all for snuggling with me after I finally got out of bed and made it to the couch.

I made progress in a biography about President Harry S. Truman (a bit of light reading), watched a couple episodes of the first season of Beverly Hills 90210 (definitely bringing back some memories), made a Starbucks run (a horchata almond milk frappachino), went to see my grandmother at her nursing home, hiked at Radnor Lake State Park, and vegged (not in that order).

Labor Day means the beginning of the end for summer. I realize the actual end isn’t for 17 more days, but after today, you can’t wear your Hawaiian shirts anymore (unless you’re a rebel like me who likes to defy social conventions and live dangerously).

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that it’s September and we’re already 3/4 of the way through 2017. Whoa.

At least the best parts of the year are still yet to come. Not to mention pumpkin spice everything.

 

 

 

September Song

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Hello-September-Graphic

“By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather,
And autumn’s best of cheer.

But none of all this beauty
Which floods the earth and air
Is unto me the secret
Which makes September fair.

‘T is a thing which I remember;
To name it thrills me yet:
One day of one September
I never can forget”

(Helen Hunt Jackson).

September is here. That means that all my checks that I write this month– both of them– will have a 9 for the date instead of an 8.

September still means hot weather. We are talking about Tennessee weather where summer sticks around like the unwanted house guests from old movie Madhouse (starring John Larroquette and Kirstie Alley). Seriously, it won’t leave.

It also means that fall and everything pumpkin spice is just around the corner. Soon enough, the weather will turn crisp and the leaves will turn golden and autumn will make a quiet and solemn entrance.

September means a much-needed holiday weekend that 99% of the working world has been looking forward to since July. For real.

September means that we are closer to Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas– the holy trinity of holidays for retailers.

It’s easy to get so caught up in wanting to jump forward to the next season that you forget to pay attention to the present. You can be so fixated on the future that you auto-pilot through the present.

I’m reading an excellent book called Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day. The goal is to live intentionally and mindfully through each day, so that you don’t miss what God is saying to you in the present moment.

To slow down and savor life is hard. It’s easy to want to rush through the day to get to the evening. It’s just as easy to blow through week to get to Friday. In that way, the days turn into weeks that turn into months that slip by unlived and unloved.

I’m looking forward to all the pumpkin spice, bonfires, s’mores, flannel, and crisp air that I can lay my hands on, but I’m also looking forward to tomorrow. I want it to become the best today possible.

 

 

More Life Lessons from Swing Dancing

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Tonight, September 7, was the first night of swing dancing back at Otter Church of Christ after a summer at Centennial Park. It was like returning to a place of comfort for me.

I had the beginner part mastered in no time. The intermediate part? Not so much. I needed an encouraging word or two and some dancing partners practiced in the art of showing me grace.

I had fun. And I learned a few lessons in the process:

1) People just need someone to believe in them. All I needed at first was someone to say, “You can do this. We got this.” Even after the fifth straight time of me getting the steps wrong.

2) You don’t have to be an expert to lead or teach someone. You just have to be one step ahead. Even if you’ve only been swing dancing five times in your entire life, you can teach a newbie some steps and help them out with some of their confusion.

3) You never go wrong by showing someone grace. Never.

Life is a lot like that. Sometimes, all you need is a friend who’s been where you are and can help you navigate job losses and relational awkwardness. Someone who can say, “You can get through this. You’re gonna be fine.”

Jesus has been that for me. He’s been through everything I will ever face. Temptation, rejection, loss, being misunderstood– He’s faced it all.

The best part is that He doesn’t just offer empathy. His Spirit lives in me. The power that raised Him from the dead resides in me. His perfect righteousness is now mine.

And Jesus roots for me one better, too. He doesn’t just say, “You can do this,” but “I’m in you giving you the power to do this.”

He doesn’t just root for you. He intercedes for you before the Father day and night. He defends you from any and all accusations from the enemy. He is your Forever Advocate.

Remember, Jesus does grace better than anyone. He invented it. He gives it fresh and new every morning that you wake up and don’t have a cloud of sin-baggage and failures hanging over your head.

Just remember these things and you will be just fine.