Gimme a Break!

I don’t know about you, but I’ve needed a break for a while. This spring has been a bit rough and I’ve had to spend a lot of energy keeping the family rudder pointed in the right direction. In fact, if summer hadn’t shown up when it did, it could’ve gotten nasty. Seriously.

Luckily, summer came riding in on its white steed just in time to save my sanity. Despite my pity party, I know I’m not alone in needing a break. Students, teachers and parents alike are all at their breaking point towards the end of May. Between end of year concerts, exams, parent teacher conferences, graduations, and awards assemblies, we ALL need a break.

Fortunately, summer is a great time to give yourself a break: a break from work, a break from school, a break from to-do lists, a break from the “shoulds” in our lives, a break from stress. These three months remind us that all work and no play really do make us dull boys and girls. Even if you don’t have a built-in vacation due to school schedules, the long days and warm weather are reminders to just sit on the porch, have something cold to drink, and relax.

The more I think about it, the more I believe that summer vacation is really a reminder that we’re human. It reminds us that we can’t work 365 days a year; that we need to vary our routine from time to time; that we’re not robots! And when we recognize that we’re human, we admit we’re not perfect. When we admit we’re not perfect, we can ask for forgiveness for our imperfections. When we ask for forgiveness, we forgive others more easily. So, in the end, summer can help us be more forgiving of others and of ourselves.

So, if I haven’t lost you with my Give-a-Mouse-a-Cookie logic…think about giving yourself a break this summer and forgiving yourself for being what we all are-human. After all, God already has and He knows how human we really are.