A prayer to welcome summer
By Lynette Kittle
Bible reading:
“When their leaves grow, you can see it for yourselves and know that summer is near.” – Luke 21:30
Listen or read below:
After a cold, harsh winter filled with blizzards and ice storms, followed by a volatile spring of roaring tornadoes and outbreaks of severe weather, summer is usually a welcome season, ushering in milder skies after the ever-changing weather patterns that often precede it.
The telltale signs of summer are welcome: longer daylight hours, warmer days and nights, and grasses, trees, and bushes budding with new leaves and flowers, ushering in the hopeful promise of summer.
Through our prayers, we can intentionally welcome summer by embracing God’s promises.
No matter what happens in the world, God promises that summer is coming; a word we can cling to when the times, the sky and the temperatures seem to tell us otherwise.
As Genesis 8:22 explains: “As long as the earth endures, sowing and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. »
The graceful words of the hymn “For the Beauty of the Earth,” written in 1864 by Folliott Sandford Pierpoint, help us open our hearts to the promises of summer:
“For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the heavens,
for the love that, since our birth, resides on and around us.
Psalm 74:17 describes how: “It is you who have established all the limits of the earth; you created summer and winter. »
The beginning of summer offers us the promise of new growth that brings fertility to our lives, as Leviticus 26:4 describes: “I will send you rain in its season, and the earth will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. »
After the drought of winter and the fury of spring, we have the slow, peaceful promise of new growth, watching day by day as flowers and buds begin to sprout and transform into nourishing fruits and vegetables. As God declared: “To everything there is a season, and a season to every activity under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
Psalm 65:9 explains that God commands the summer promises to be fulfilled: “You take care of the earth and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide grain for the people, for thus you have ordained.”
God’s creation lasts for years. Everything He has set in motion continues against all odds and despite the times, regardless of droughts, fires, floods, and natural and man-made disasters of all kinds, for He controls the seasons and decides the days and hours, being eternally faithful to His word.
We are assured in Isaiah 55:10-11“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return without watering the earth and making it spring up and blossom, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
Let us pray:
Dear Father,
Today we welcome summer with Your promises of growth and abundance for the months to come.
We praise you for your faithfulness to water, cultivate and grow the plants, fields and trees on the earth and in our lives.
Help us, daily, to see in the months to come how Your hand graciously and generously provides for our daily needs. Remind us of your faithful promises ordained for the bounty of summer.
Because we believe that you control the seasons, may your name be praised throughout the world you have created and throughout the summer months to come.
Fill our hearts, O Lord, to the fullest and overflowing with gratitude for You and for Your love for our land and our lives.
Draw us close to Your heart and reveal Your vision for the summer months ahead.
In the name of Jesus,
Amen.
Discuss today’s devotion with others in the Your Daily Prayer Thread on the pedestrian crossing forum.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Mary Spikelmier
Lynette Kittle is married and the father of four daughters. She enjoys writing about faith, marriage, parenting, relationships, and life. Her writing has been published by Focus on the Family, Decision, Today’s Christian Woman, kirkcameron.com, Ungrind.org, StartMarriageRight.com, and more. She holds a master’s degree in communications from Regent University and is an associate producer for TV soul check.
Related Resource: What to Do When God Seems Far Away
What to do when God no longer feels as close as before?
Many sincere believers experience periods when prayer seems empty, Scripture seems quiet, and God seems strangely absent. For leaders in particular, these seasons can seem confusing, discouraging, and even shameful.
In this episode of Unhurried Life PodcastAlan Fadling sits down with theologian and spiritual formation teacher Kyle Strobel to discuss the new book When God Seems Distant, co-written with John Coe. If this episode helps you refocus your work and life on God, be sure to follow Live without haste on Apple Or Spotify so you never miss an episode!
