Our customary afternoon walk was permeated with tepid warmth that almost matched my husband's tolerance of summer.  The day transformed quickly from a rainy, cold breeze to a soft, balmy infusion of sun and heat.  We walked in pleasant agreement that indeed, the Lord has endowed us with a good day, and our fitting response was a joyful reception of its gifts.  Or, at minimum, those were the sentiments warming my heart on this gentle stroll in the eye of summer.

I had waited for this season on long, interminable rainy afternoons, sometimes despairing that it would never come. My skin hungered for the breath of sun filling its pores, my eyes thirsty for light flooding unrestrained the slimming atmosphere.  Now that the sun is here to linger for a few more weeks, I want to spend my days bathing in its luxurious light, bottling its nourishing heat for the long and barren months of winter.  The society of our benevolent day star  is a dream unrequited - my hands are busy tilling the garden I am currently parceled in the cradle of summer.  

Summer, more than any other time, points my eyes to Home.  I dream of that place where the Son never sets - His brightness illuminating a land alive with music and color.  With my mind,  I sometimes walk paths of green meadows exhaling melody and color in hues so vivid that neurons cannot process.  In that place, the trees seem to sway their branches in a low and arched embrace, answering the flowers in a concert of captivating tunes.  Water clear as glass is hugging my feet, while rocks infuse the stream with flawless harmony.  I stop under the shadow of a tree not to gain respite from unfettered heat, but to allow the sounds to fill my pores with fresh awe for my undeserved lot in God's eternal summer.  

I dream of the City whose walls shimmer and burn with the radiance of precious stones.  The best day here is a dim shadow of that land beyond the veil that separates spirit from flesh, time from eternity, material from spiritual.   But, more than anything, I dream of Jesus...  What will I say when my eyes will at last see Him?  Will words even be needed?   I have thought of that moment many times...  I don't think I will ask Him any questions that seem so pressing on this side of the veil. The trials and toils of this life will be dissolved and forgotten with one look in His all-consuming eyes.  All I want to say as I embrace His nail-scarred feet is "thank you", for days and time without end.

In a few weeks, summer will be a sweet memory, and the longing for its return will awaken with the return of charcoal skies.  The celestial star will dim its light for many months, its glow tempered as Earth tilts away from its radiance.  Yet even in the midst of winter, my heart will retain the glow of  my eternal Home, its core set ablaze by the embers of God's eternal love in Christ Jesus.

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,  for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more... But I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its lamp. By its light the nations will walk, and into it the kings of the earth will bring their glory.  Its gates will never be shut at the end of the day, because there will be no night there. "  (Revelation 21:1, 22-25)