Here in the Midwest, our days are longer during the summer. The sun is up before I head out to work, and it’s still shining when I commute home. Back in southeast Kansas, where I grew up, I remember the sky being light at 10 p.m. Loved those long summer days! I would rise close to dawn, just to sit out in our large backyard and watch sunshine light up the grass and the birds begin their day. Yes, I was a weird kid who never slept in and who enjoyed being quiet out in the early morning. I have long since accepted my weirdness as God’s funny gift.
Long days are a gift—especially if, like me, you have survived a long winter with short days but without a shortened work schedule to correspond to the daylight. In my opinion, we humans should respect our biorhythms and adjust activity accordingly. Do more when the sun’s out, and sleep more when the sun goes to bed.
Of course, that would be impossible for life (and the economy) in the U.S.A., given how interrelated we are across regions, climates, and time zones. If all of us followed the sun, then some people would work long hours all year long, and others would be in hibernation three-fourths of the year. It just doesn’t make good sense to follow the sun in the same way our ancestors did.
Still, many of us have a lot of daylight in the summer months, and that brings enough of a shift to our days that we would do well to consider how to approach the lengthened hours. Some of us simply lengthen our to-do lists to match the stretching daylight. Others use good-weather days to nurture the inner child: play more, nap more, move more, socialize more.
I’m inclined to use the increased daylight for more self-care. After a gray winter, I let the sun warm my bones. After bundling up in sweaters and throws, I roam around—even in the backyard—in my jammies and basically live on our back porch. After months of struggling to wake up and move, I wake up with the earlier sun and sit on the swing, just to eat blueberries and hang out with the dogs and cats.
My encouragement for you is simply this: consider the extra daylight in your life right now, how you will interact with it, and why.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Well now you have my favourite preachment. There is godliness in the predawn, dark trees against whitening sky, birds astir (notice they always say cheer cheer cheer, not gloom, drat, and blah), and the world waking up. Four a.m. is divine in any season. Sleep more? Gloom and bah to that thought from my little corner of the world. Then we have our long languid summer afternoons …. ah sunshot mantra.
We use the extra summer daylight to have dinner on the patio. It’s so beautiful to see the sun and our dinner diminish conjointly. The lowering sun shining through the grape leaves, and the rose leaves, kissing our cheeks gently. I use the extra daylight, like you, to enjoy the sunrise prior to going to Mass. And the birds are in this delight as well, chirping their good morning and telling the trees and flowers to wake up and do the things that God put in them as gifts to us humans. I love the extra daylight. It tells me that God is making more time for me to serve Him and others, after the meditative state his sun (and His Son) put me in. This is a great reflection, Vinita. Thanks.
I remember when the children were young and they seemed to stay up sooo late because of the later sunset. Now when I’m with my daughter and her family, I love it that the children stay up later and we just hang out together because I don’t have to do a lot of work when they finally go to bed.
At home I love to sit in the backyard (yes, Vinita, in my pj’s) and look at the sky which is one of my favourite parts of God’s creation. I am so blessed with a home and a little flower garden and I never cease thanking God for these blessings. I pray for those who don’t have the luxury of restful time but live in such poverty that they are never able to relax.
Thanks for this thoughtful post.
You have touched a wonderful chord. Even as a child living near the Great Lake of Ontario I treasured sitting on my family screened porch watching the trees and listening to the birds. The decades have not changed and I am blessed even in New York City to have a wonderful backyard deck and yard filled with trees. This calls to me early in the morning for my time of reflection and personal prayer and it draws me after dinner to read something light and commune with the little outside critters that even find their way to the Big Apple……… these months are such a gift Thank you Lord
Great words of wisdom, thanks. :-)
Beautiful sentiments. I savor the early morning light and the cool, dampness of dawn. I grab a cup of tea and sit on the porch and watch the world come alive and praise God for the gift of summer. For me the extra light includes extra warmth too, another gift to those of us in the Northeast where the darkness also brings the cold.