A Morning Prayer to Help Us Savor Long Summer Days - Your Daily Prayer - July 31

A Morning Prayer to Help Us Savor Long Summer Days
By Lynette Kittle

“So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day”—Joshua 10:13

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Some people feel like summer days go by much too quickly, but for others, they seem to slowly and endlessly drag on hour after hour, sunrise after sunset.

The meaning of long summer days depends, too, on where we’re spending them, as they’re not all alike. For some, summer days are truly endless, some even seemingly lacking sunrises and sunsets, where it feels like it may have felt like in Joshua’s day when the sun didn’t set.

Some Summer Days Are Longer than Others

For a few years, our family lived in the “Land of the Midnight Sun,” Alaska, where summers truly feel much longer than the number of days suggests, with residents and visitors alike enjoying basically 24/7 sunlight.

Funny how, during these never-ending Alaskan summer days, my husband and I slept and ate less, yet didn’t feel tired and functioned on much less sleep than usual.

The summers seemed delightfully longer than they do on the USA mainland, in a good, energizing way, feeling like we were being blessed with more summer months than usual.

Still, we tried, like many new parents in Alaska, to block out the midnight sun during regular nighttime hours, hoping our babies would think it was dark outside and time to sleep.

It’s amazing when we consider how God created and set the times up. As Psalm 104:19 describes, “He made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down.”

Other Summer Days Are Shorter

In contrast, while living in Hawaii, which is closer to the equator, we found our days to be split evenly between 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of nighttime, all year long, causing us to miss the longer daylight summer evenings enjoyed across most of America’s landscapes.

Although sure and steady, we missed the Alaskan opportunity to fish all night long under daylight’s lingering watch.

Nowadays, long summer days are a mix of the two extremes, with light beginning to peek through around 4 a.m. and hanging around until 9 p.m. or so.

Again, as Psalm 74:16 describes God’s hand in the days and seasons in our lives, “The day is Yours, and Yours also the night; You established the sun and moon.”

Summer Offers Long Days of Reflection, Rest, and Refreshment

Still, whether we’re living in a time zone with longer or shorter days, we can savor long summer days by appreciating God’s planning of the season, which offers us time to reflect, rest, and be refreshed.

As Ecclesiastes 1:5 informs us, “The sun rises, and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.”

God Calls Us to Enjoy Summer Days

During long summer days, it’s beneficial for us to remember God’s faithfulness and goodness in providing the season for us to enjoy.

As Ecclesiastes 9:9 urges, “Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.”

He calls us to make the most of them by enjoying each and every day of our lives.

Let’s Pray:

Dear Father,

Thank you for giving us long summer days to bask in the warm summer light and prolonged evening glow. Help us to savor and enjoy each day You give us with the people we love, just as Your word encourages us to do. Whether we have longer or shorter daylight hours, we should guard our lips from grumbling and complaining.

Let praise come forth from our lips from our morning rising and to our evening lying down. On days when it seems like the sun is standing still, strengthen us to choose to savor and enjoy our long summer days in every situation and circumstance we find ourselves living in.

Let Your light shine in and through us this summer, drawing those around us to savor the light You give us, too.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen

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Photo Credit: Unsplash/Ben White

Lynette Kittle is married with 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 has a M.A. in Communication from Regent University and serves as associate producer for Soul Check TV.

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