Carrying Christ Into Summer

This week’s devotion is authored by congregation member Emily Scanlon

Summer changes the rhythm. The alarm shifts. The schedule opens up. The kids are home. Life moves differently, and the patterns that carried us through the rest of the year naturally give way to new ones. This isn’t a problem to solve. It might actually be an opportunity. 

What if your faith were flexible enough to fit the season you're actually in?

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says, "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." That invitation doesn't come with a seasonal asterisk. It's not reserved for structured mornings or tidy calendars. It's open on the road trip, at the pool, in the chaos of a full house, and in the quiet that finally comes after the kids are asleep. Summer isn't a threat to your faith. It might actually be an invitation to carry it somewhere new. 

What would it look like to bring Christ into the ordinary moments of these months?

Not through a rigid new plan, but through small, honest practices:

• A prayer before you hit the road. 
• A verse tucked into your beach bag. 
• A conversation with your kids about what they're noticing in creation and how it points back to the God who made it. 
• Grace said over a grill instead of a kitchen table. 

These aren't lesser forms of faith. They're faith lived in real life, in real season. 

The early church didn't have quiet-time apps or devotional plans. They had the Word, the Spirit, and each other. They carried Christ into their work, their meals, their travels, and their rest. We get to do the same. 

This summer, take this less as a challenge and more as an open door. Come to Him, just as you are. He'll meet you there: in the noise, in the margin, in the ordinary middle of a summer afternoon. 

He always does.