By the end of the school year, I feel like a roast.  As in, put a fork in me…I am DONE.  Done with school work, homework, lesson plans, or get-in-the-car-and-go-anywhere-plans.

Since my girls finished school last week, I kicked off summer with a celebratory nap.  I asked the girls if they would give me thirty minutes of quiet, thinking I would need to close my eyes for twenty minutes or so and then be good to go again.  An hour and forty minutes later, I opened my eyes…and told my girls they had given me the best gift for which a mom could ask!

But while I started off summer on a good, restful note, the temptation for me is where there is margin to nap, or rest, or read, or simply do nothing, I start packing in more.  Signing my kids up for one more camp.  Inserting more activity into slow, lazy afternoons.  Making more lists of what needs to be done instead of enjoying the fullness of what’s in front of me.

At our end of school assembly last week, our head of school, Neil Anderson, gave us permission to do less rather than more over the summer.  Less activity.  Less screens.  Less hustle and less bustle.  Because margin doesn’t just happen on its own.  You have to plan for it, make room for it, and be willing to embrace it…even if it feels like missing out.

In my case, I needed someone to give me permission to make room for margin.  I needed someone to stand up and tell me, “Woman, rest.  Resist the temptation to fill up the margins and give God room to speak and your family the capacity to listen.”

So this summer, I am giving you the same gift that someone gave me – permission to rest and permission to insert margin instead of more activity.  Yes, do some camps, kick some soccer balls, make a few popsicle stick projects at VBS.  But at some point, give yourself permission to purposefully and thoughtfully slow down and listen to the One who is waiting to speak into the spaces we give Him.

Here are some ideas for creating margin in your summer:

Insert some margin into your time with the Lord.  

I have found summer to be a great time to linger longer over my prayers.  To really learn to pray and process through things with the Lord with a pen in one hand and a Bible in the other in a way I cannot often do during the school year when everyone has to be out the door by 7:30am.  Resist the temptation to sign your kids up for too many camps where you have to be out the door every morning at an early hour.  Give yourself margin to linger long with the Lord.

Here are some devotional ideas:

• I just finished an excellent study on 2 Corinthians by Kelly Minter called All Things New.  I enjoyed every moment of digging into the pages of the study and the chapters in 2 Corinthians.  I found great principles to help guide me navigate the realities of living real life alongside of real people.
• If you battle fear or anxiety, a friend of mine, Margaret Austin, who has guest written on this blog before, recommended a study called When I Am Afraid, by Ed Welch.  Summer is a great time to allow the Lord to work on some those hard to reach places in our souls that often are pushed to the side during seasons of busyness.
• And here is my personal favorite: the second edition of Waiting on the Lord. You can pre-order your copy on Amazon now, and it is due to be released on June 11th, just in time for summer.  Waiting on the Lord is not for the faint of heart.  This is a study that helps peel back the layers of disappointments, hurts, and make-shift bandages in our lives and enables us to see there is a God standing in the shadows, waiting to heal and fulfill the deepest desires of the human heart.  If you are in a place of needing to hear, see, and taste God in places you never thought you would see Him, then this study is for you.  And summer gives you the margin you need to do it.  What’s great about this second edition is that the teaching sessions are on video format and can be accessed at susannahbaker.com by June 11th as well.  They are perfect to watch or share with a group if you would like to walk through the study with others.

Insert some margin into time with your family.

• Have one night a week where you all cook dinner together.  Include even the youngest members of your family by letting them “help” by decorating the paper napkins with stickers or artwork or put a chair by the sink and let them pour water from one bowl to another while the rest of you prepare the meal.  During the school year, dinner time is usually such a time of hustle that I look forward to making a meal together we can all enjoy without me saying, “Hurry up!” one time.
• This idea came from Neil Anderson as well, but after dinner, clear your plates off of the table (or, if you are like our family, throw your paper plates in the trash can), and make time to create together.  Paint, color, draw, play the guitar or piano, write a poem, or a write a story.  But use your time together to let each person’s creative juices flow in the way God has gifted him or her.

• Be creative with your family devotions.  Sometimes it feels like our devotions are about as dry as a mouthful of dirt.  As parents, we are tired of talking, and I know our kids are tired of listening.  So a few nights ago, instead of talking about a passage in scripture, we drew a passage of scripture.  I read Psalm 37 about trusting in the Lord, spent a little time dialoguing about what that meant, and then let everyone get out paper and markers and go to down.  Everyone created something that helped them process the Psalm.  The results were so great, they have been hanging up on our book shelves ever since.

• Remember to enjoy simple, outside things with your family.  I know we hear it a thousand times, but it’s true – kids don’t care what we do.  They just want to be with mom and dad.  So get outside.  Take a walk together.  Go swimming, and moms (myself included), get your hair wet.  Sit down and just watch them play instead of responding to texts on your phone.  Ride bikes together.  But whatever you do, be fully present in the moment, in the margin, enjoying your children, and allowing them to enjoy you.
• Pick a book to read aloud together this summer.  I saw this new edition of Hinds Feet in High Places, and it looks amazing.  This might be our new read aloud book this summer.
• Go to the library…often.  Visit used book stores and make it an adventure.   There’s an amazing ice cream store right down from the Half-Price Books we like to go to, so they know if they pick a book, they also get to pick their favorite flavor ice cream.

So there.  Permission given to rest.  To make room and margin for less, not more.  And the irony is, by the end of the summer, I have a feeling that in the “less,” we will have found more than we could ever imagine.