“Summertime and the livin’ is easy. Fish are jumping and the cotton is high.” So begins the crowd favorite from Porgy and Bess, the award-winning jazz, or folk, opera, set deep in the South. As a child of the Mississippi Delta, mosquitoes, gnats, and all, I can close my eyes and drift back to the summers of my youth and feel the humidity and remember the earthy smell of evening showers.
I am reminded of decoration days, revivals, and, of course, Vacation Bible School. It is also the time for hymn singing, summer camps, and the county fair. Relatives came to visit and the poor toiled to bring in the crops. Summertime. Toe tied to the fishing pole. Fireflies caught in a jar. Long afternoons rocking in a porch swing reading of far off places or scenarios I could only imagine. Canning jars and freshly made pies cooling on the porch.
Summertime. How will your season go in this very surreal year? Living is not so easy. Strange how staying at home has become a burden. As in all of life's cycles, we need not complain about what is out of our control. Summertime also brings drownings, floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Fires rage. Droughts ruin.
In the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, God tells us to enjoy all the seasons of our lives. They are gifts to every generation. In these verses we are reminded of the juxtaposition of good and bad, work and play, war and peace. Is your life balanced? Do you make the most of every season, understanding that without knowing the depths of despair, we can never truly experience joy? Do you have the memory of hard work resulting in a celebration of a job well done? Have you lived through turmoil only to discover the profound sense of peace that only arrives after stress?
In His seasons, living is easy when we trust. In His seasons, food is abundant, and times are good, but only after we have weathered the storms does the rainbow appear. As the Muppets taught us, Rainbows are visions
They're only illusions And rainbows have nothing to hide So we've been told and some chose to Believe it But I know they're wrong wait and see Someday we'll find it The Rainbow Connection The lovers, the dreamers and me (Rainbow Connection, The Muppet Movie}
Prayer
Lord, may we live in the world as a rainbow, reflecting the good that is in each of us, while remembering not the pot of gold, but the beauty that shines in the prism of life. Amen
Judy Butler, Retired Educator