Before the Hurry Begins
As I write this, my feet are in the cool waters of the Gulf. The waves keep rolling in, children are laughing nearby, and for a few more hours, life feels wonderfully unhurried.
Tomorrow we head home.
And almost overnight, our family will trade beach towels for backpacks.
My wife will begin another school year with professional development and preparing her classroom. Our boys will jump into choir rehearsals, parent meetings, practices, and all the excitement that comes with a new school year. A week later, we’ll help Grace move into her college dorm and begin another exciting chapter in her life.
Life has a way of changing seasons before we’re quite ready.
Maybe that’s why I’ve found myself lingering just a little longer with my feet in the water this week. There is something about God’s creation that has a way of slowing our hearts. The steady rhythm of the waves, the warm sunshine, the salty breeze, and the beauty stretching to the horizon remind me that the world keeps turning without my constant attention. God is still God, and I don’t have to carry everything on my shoulders.
Ecclesiastes reminds us, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”
Summer has been a gift. But so is the season that lies ahead.
The invitation isn’t to hold on to vacation as long as possible. It is to carry what God has been teaching us into whatever comes next.
Perhaps that means holding a little more gratitude than worry. A little more presence than hurry. A little more trust than anxiety.
The calendar will fill. The pace will quicken. There will be lunches to pack, practices to attend, meetings to lead, sermons to prepare, and goodbyes that remind us our children are growing up far too quickly.
But the same God who meets us beside still waters also walks with us into classrooms, offices, churches, neighborhoods, and all the ordinary moments waiting on the other side of summer.
My prayer is that I won’t leave this slower heart behind when I pack the car tomorrow.
Maybe that’s a prayer worth sharing.
As you prepare for whatever this next season holds, may you carry with you the peace, gratitude, and confidence that God goes before you—and walks beside you every step of the way.
With Gratitude,
Rev. Rodney Whitfield
Senior Pastor
Aldersgate UMC