Today is the Summer Solstice – June 21st. A time when the sun reaches its highest point in the heavens, giving us both the longest day of the year… and the shortest night. We mark this as the beginning of summer. It’s what we’ve been longing for all the cold winter long!
School is out, and many are looking forward to taking time off from work. It’s a light and airy season. The earth is lush and green. Gardens are overflowing with colour and the promise of fruits to come. Traditionally, a time of ease and relaxation. Offering us a chance to play, as it were.
The beaches of ocean and lake beckon. Woodland forests and mountains call. And we are more than ready to answer, eager to follow wherever they lead. Thrilled at the thought of leaving behind the mundane routines of everyday life.
It looks to be a hot summer, marked by the challenges this can present with resulting heatwaves and wildfires. Here, and abroad it will be a political time. Each side presenting stark differences and deep divides, with words of acrimony hard to ignore. War and conflict continue to rage, with leaders threatening even more discord.
Such a contrast to how we envisioned our summer days and resulting hours of leisure.
And now, having reached its apex in the sky, the sun will begin to make the return journey to shorter days and longer nights – a harbinger of seasonal changes ahead. Come September, day and night will once again share equally, before the dark at last prevails.
We will return to work and school; the tasks and responsibilities of our daily lives. Carrying only the faint glow of a warm summer memory to see us through yet another cold, dreary winter. So, the seasons cycling round, making their journey across time and space. And before you know it another year has passed.
Until then however, we have plenty of days and weeks still to appreciate and enjoy that which makes summer such a delight! Savouring and reveling in the joys each new day bestows. No need to rush the seasons, they will come in accordance with Nature’s own timing and plan.
St. Hildegard of Bingen offers the following… a very eloquent description of summer, in all its glory…
“I am the one whose praise echoes on high.
I adorn all the earth.
I am the breeze that nurtures all things green.
I encourage blossoms to flourish with ripening fruits.
I am led by the spirits to feed the purest streams.
I am the rain coming for the dews
that cause the grasses to laugh with the joy of life.
I call forth tears, the aroma of holy work.
I am the yearning for good.”
Yearning for good lifts us above the rancor and clamor of the world. It focuses our attention on the positives, and all the possibilities this implies. On that which is true and worthwhile in our world. The beauty that is summer instills hope and optimism. And so, as the seasons turn in Nature, so too do the times themselves change and move on.
Within the yearning for good, lies the power to make life better.
6 thoughts on “Summer’s Solstice”
Love it. Miss my days at the beach and riding the waves. Love you!!!!! Jim
Don’t forget the days spent camping too! Love back!
Beautiful thoughts for the season. God created four lovely seasons for us.
Happy summer my friend,
Anna Jean
Happy Summer… and beautiful garden growing. All those delicious veggies!! Sending love!
My garden is magnificent this year, providing an antidote to what is happening in the world and in my own life. Ahhhh, the solace of summer! Thanks for this reminder to focus on the good — past, present and future. ❤️
Nature provides a balance to the craziness of our lives – thankfully! I love your expression – the solace of summer. Too true my friend! The new baby will be here soon enuf… and then talk about crazy!! Hang in!!!!