Endless sunshine, swimming, tanning, outside dinners, late nights, daily ice cream, downtown strolls. A few of my favorite things about summer. Summer is always a season of relaxation and a shift in focus; it’s been a time for me to work and to rest, to enjoy spending time with others and to be alone. There is just something different about this restful season that makes it so hard to say goodbye.

Don’t get me wrong, I love everything fall, the smells, the clothes, the food, hot drinks, weekend road trips, late nights on campus, breaks, and weekly dinners with friends. But saying goodbye to time, to relaxing and enjoying every day without this full agenda worrying about what the next day will bring is sad.

My summer internship, my summer home, my summer family, it is all so hard to leave behind and trade in for the hustle and bustle of the school year. But this summer has given me time to make plans for the next year, to prepare for what the future holds, and to get my priorities straight. This season has also given me time to reflect and refresh.

This past school year I got so caught up in schedules and nonstop plans and going that I lost what it meant to appreciate every day and every blessing. That joy that I once clung to dwindled as I got caught up in worry and stress that I felt like I couldn’t control anything. But this summer that changed. I loved my job, my schedule, and the people I spent every day with.

When I think about my summer and what has been different about it, Psalm 37:4 comes to mind, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” This Psalm was written by David and in it, he lays out all of these moments where we should be trusting in the Lord and His love and righteousness and not in this world and its people or to the things that we turn to for peace.

And I don’t think that he is saying that if we worship the Lord then we will get whatever thing it is that we have been wanting or craving, but that He will give us what we fully need in our hearts: that eternal security, everlasting hope, and radiant joy.

For me, this verse is the ultimate shift in reality, away from self-promoting wishes to a yearning for something greater than self. This obedience and love for the Lord because of His lavish grace and mercy creates a life of inexplicable joy and peace. In this upcoming school year, I don’t want that desire and utter delight for a life with my Lord to fade. Here’s to a year of delighting in the Almighty and living a life of obedience through faith.