Mark Your Calendar for a Selfless Summer

Johanna Stamps shares 90+ simple ways to serve others this summer. Print our calendar and make it a family adventure!

With summer quickly approaching, I started discussing goals for the season with my little one, instantly landing on honing skills as our main focus. In the days that followed, I felt a little empty. I wondered, “Is this what our summer is really going to be about?”

Is there not something more we could do?

At a sweet time of recollection, my question shifted:

“God, what do you want us to focus on?”

The initial response was clear: “Serve.” God knows He needs to be much more specific with me.

One evening, the little one miraculously went to sleep early, and instead of running around pretending like I had more important things to do, I grabbed my pen, sat down with my journal, and began to pray and write.

The words “The Selfless Summer” flowed onto the page.

Then, the following came:

“90 days of serving others and growing closer to God.”

“Okay,” I thought, “now we’re onto something.”

I have long been an advocate for the acronym J.O.Y. (Jesus, Others, You). The letters stand for a well-designed pecking-order or where our thoughts should lie. For anyone who has attempted to live by this will, most likely, attest to the fact that by the time you get to “Y,” Jesus has already been thinking of you and has brought “O” to love on you and provide for your needs.

What if I spent the summer showing my child the joy of J.O.Y. at such a young age?

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In my work as a grief coach, one of the only prerequisites I offer to my clients is a daily activity of thanking God and doing a small act of kindness. I know the power of these activities because I’ve seen people’s lives dramatically change when they put action into a new way of thinking.

As a mom, I know that if I’m not careful, I’ll fall into the summer Groundhog Day of numbness: hours by the poolside followed by one too many episodes of Curious George.

A selfless activity has a way of pulling us out of our numbness, turning our eyes toward God, and alleviating the monotonous thoughts like, “How am I going to get through these next days with my sanity?”

My hope and prayer with this Selfless Summer Calendar is to build the muscle of generosity for our family and see where God takes us in these 90 days. The tasks are short and usually cost nothing or less than $5.

What is your hope for the summer ahead? How might a small shift in thinking (and doing) create a rich momentum?