From Father Stephen Andrews June 2018

as published in Great Yarmouth Parish Life

By the time you read this, the summer should be in full swing; the flowers in bloom, the sun beating down from the sky, cyclists and joggers are out for their early-morning workouts. Summer is a special time, on the best days of summer; life can seem like a gift even more precious than it is usually. Summer is a time for fun and a time for joy, and it is a time that is great for all the activities that we love to do most
 
When we think of the words “summer” and “holiday” we think of students from our schools, colleges, and universities enjoying a well-earned break and then we think of our own holidays with family or friends – also enjoying a well-earned break that we’ve all been looking forward to!
 
In the summer, you can stretch out on the lawn or on the beach, and although traveling abroad can be very nice, you can still take a perfectly fulfilling holiday at home, on the broads, at the seaside, or camping and caravanning in the countryside as long as the weather is nice
  
Many people take pleasure in getting rid of the winter jumpers and getting into their summer gear, their tans are topped up, and it’s time to dust off the paperbacks
 
Think for a moment of your favourite sport. Is it football? Is it cricket? Do you like to swim? Maybe you like netball, hockey or tennis? Perhaps you like running along the seafront – or you look forward to sitting on a deck- chair outside and listening to the radio
 
Whatever it is that you enjoy doing, the odds are pretty good that it is something best done in the warmer months of summer
 
Summer is a time when we can get out and about, we seem to have a new energy to start doing things, and we think to ourselves, ‘only in the sum­mer!’
 
As we reflect on summer, it's important to reflect on God the creator of all things. God, in infinite wisdom and unending creativity, gives us summer freely, its majesty rolling its way around to us year after year
  
Summertime lasts a few good months from its commencement in June until it ends later in the year. Of course, we need and find beauty in all the seasons but I’m sure most of us look forward to the return of summer, reminding us of creation itself, appearing before us as God appears before us, inviting us to have fun, inviting us to love, to friendship, to be at peace, and to contentedness
 
All these things are the states of summer, and they too are the states that God intends for us, year after year, day after day, life after life, forever after
Father Stephen

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