Occasionally, I compose short pieces for our church bulletin. While most would consider 250 words or less shorter than the ideal blog post, allow me to share one such recent post below. If such articles are useful to you or your church for similar use, consider permission granted. Please just tag on my blog address for the sake of reference.

—

SUMMERTIME

In one of Malcolm Gladwell’s books, he writes about a trend that can be observed in the average student’s life. On a graph, it would look like a slow, steady incline up from Point A to Point B. Then it would drop somewhat steeply down to Point C, from where another slow, steady incline would begin This pattern would continue a dozen times or so. Statistical research from US educational systems showed that students learn throughout a given school year (the slow, steady incline), but then “lose ground” during the leisure of summer holidays. The next grade then demands some “catch-up” before new progress can be added to last year’s development.

Gladwell’s observations centered on how important summertime was and how much power it held for children whose families were involved in “continuing the learning” when school dismissed. This didn’t need to look like formal class; generally, it showed up in family vacations, day camps, museum visits, library books, and meaningful conversations. Children with less supportive families or less financial means were more apt to sit in front of the TV or wander the neighbourhood. The point: Downtime matters!

What’s your summer plan for spiritual growth? Do you have one? I hope you’re considering attending a camp or helping with one of our summer ministries, reading something Christ-centered or generating some visits that move beyond Roughriders and cheeseburgers.

The Father works to move us “from glory unto glory”; be sure you have a summer plan conducive to such wondrous work!