Summer time thoughts.

   We have waited a long time for the sun to shine on us. Long winter nights, short winter days, cold and frosty seemed to last for ever. Springtime arrived with rains and leaden skies. Will the sun ever shine I wondered. For a few days in early May it poked its head over the clouds but it was just flirting with us and after a couple of days of it beaming at us it was gone again. June arrived and at last the sun is here, summer has arrived to stay (hopefully). Of course we have to remember that this ball of fire which we are told is really a huge globe of constant atomic reactions brings with it certain risks. Cover up and wear a hat, especially if you have as little hair as I have and don’t forget the skin cream. These are the warnings we are given by helpful weather men and ladies on our TVs. Once the sun is up the sea warms and we long to go and paddle in it and feel the sand between our toes. Unfortunately half the country has the same impulse and the beaches and the roads to them become jammed and not user friendly at all.

So do we stay at home or make the journey with all its stress? Purchasing a paddling pool might be the best option. We chat to our friends and grumble about hay fever and levels pollen, we men sweat and the ladies perspire. How we long for a crisp cold day with the frost of the spiders webs and the ground as hard as iron.

   What is it we really want? What will truly give us lasting satisfaction? If it’s not perfect weather then is it money and wealth? Early this year I read of a lottery winner who spent every penny and ended up bankrupt and cursing the day he had won the prize. He said that it had ruined him and soured his friendships. Another found that the only way he could cope was to live as if he had never won the money. The celebrities who appear on our screens as the role models our young people aspire to be, seem to go from relationship to relationship and few of them appear to have found real happiness. They are often subject to drugs and alcohol abuse. Do I really want to be like some of these rich but sad wrecks? 

 What is it we really want? What will truly give us lasting satisfaction? There is one friend who can provide stability, true happiness and satisfy our longing for a worthwhile life.

  Put the beach ball away, leave the lottery ticket behind and come to church.