There Is Always A Reason

August.

It is the month of the rare explosion of flowers and sunshine.

And yet there are no holidays in August.

It is the month of carefree afternoons … golden mornings … firefly evenings … and picnics on lazy days.

August is the month of field corn that reaches its graceful arms to the sky … it is the four weeks of the calendar year when sunflowers smile unashamedly … and when children ride their bikes furiously with no hands.

August is the dividing line between summer and fall … between green and bright orange … between watermelon and pumpkins … between the morning dew and the autumn frost.

March often wears me out with its gray substance … July is just so sizzling hot … and February blows its cold breath at me … but I could live in a world of Augusts.

I never get tired of August.

And yet there is nothing spectacular on any calendar concerning the august month of August.

Life is much like August.

Hidden in the fabric of an ordinary, uneventful life is the joy of the commonplace.

While slogging through the mediocre days, I have discovered that it is possible to find hope in the mundane… delight in the humdrum … and celebration to be crafted in the everyday.

August holds one of the richest secrets to live that a person can embrace … it is possible to dig for gold in the normal.

And when that authoritative calendar refuses to give the populace a reason to celebrate … throw a party anyway!

There is always a wonderful reason to sing … there is always a gentle reason to be kind … there is always a compelling reason to be grateful … there is always a resolute reason to live a purposeful existence.

There is always a reason … even in August … especially in August!

I have fallen in love with the Passion Translation of the Bible recently … and as I wrote this message to all of you … I thought of some verses that I had recently read in the Passion Translation.

Now … I know that this is a long passage … but I dare you to read it and contemplate the season in life that you are in this month of August 2021.

I dare you to snuggle up into the lap of God and read it on this ordinary afternoon.

I dare you to go digging for treasure among the sacred words of this lovely passage.

I dare you.

These verses remind me of August –

How blessed is the one you choose
 to live near you in your courts,
 The beauty of your house, your holy temple, satisfies us.

5  You answer our prayers with amazing wonders
and with awe-inspiring displays of power.

    You are the righteous God who helps us like a father.
Everyone everywhere looks to you,
for you are the confidence of all the earth,
 even to the farthest islands of the sea.

6  What jaw-dropping, astounding power is yours!
You are the mountain maker who sets them all in place.

7  You muzzle the roar of the mighty seas
and the rage of mobs with their noisy riots.

8  O God, to the farthest corners of the planet
people will stand in awe,
startled and stunned by your signs and wonders.

    Sunrise brilliance and sunset beauty
both take turns singing their songs of joy to you.

9  Your visitations of glory bless the earth
 the rivers of God overflow and enrich it.
You paint the wheat fields golden as you provide rich harvests.

10  Every field is watered with the abundance of rain—
showers soaking the earth and softening its clods,
causing seeds to sprout throughout the land.

11  You crown the earth with the fruits of your goodness.
Wherever you go, the tracks of your chariot wheels drip with oil.

12  Luxuriant green pastures boast of your bounty
as you make every hillside blossom with joy.

13  The grazing meadows are covered with flocks,
 and the fertile valleys are clothed with grain,
each one dancing and shouting for joy, creation’s celebration!
They’re all singing their songs of praise to you!
~ Psalm 65:4-10

I pray that this year… as August gives way to autumn… that you will choose to celebrate the
lavish goodness of our God.

I pray that you will sing through these last few days of the 8th month in the calendar year.

I pray that you will celebrate the non-celebratory … that you will lift your hands high above the pain and the ordinary.

I pray that your August calendar will become a veritable plethora of red-letter days as you turn your face away from your circumstances and toward His eternal goodness.

Thanks for listening to my heart this week. As you know by now, my heart is truly not a perfect heart but it is a heart that is filled to overflowing with gratitude for the life I have been given and for the people who walk with me. And, it continues to be a heart that is relentlessly chasing after God and all that He is!