As soon as the temperature reaches a degree above eighty, my kids declare it summer and jump in the pool. This usually happens around the end of April (or sooner) because we live in Texas. Once pool season begins, it seems like summer has started. We pull out the pool bag, the kids trade their shoes and socks for flip flops (or no shoes at all), and we turn down the AC. Summer stretches out before us with the end so far away we can take our time.

I always write a summer to-do list a mile long because there seems to be so much time. All the closets in our home are going to be cleaned and organized. I am going to tackle sorting out the stacks of books sitting in the bonus room. My kids are going to spend long days logging reading hours for the library summer reading club, and we are going to finish all the math workbooks we got behind in last school year. In the midst of all that, we also have to participate in camps, have playdates with friends we do not get to see during the school year, and, of course, take lots of cute family pictures of us bonding over a backyard campfire or at the beach. (No, never the beach. Sand and my children do not mix well).

As I look at my calendar and see that we are into mid-July and then look at all my summer plans, the two are not matching the way I had hoped they would. It is time to start thinking about if my kids have shoes that fit for school. As I looked at my summer list, I thought, “Why summer? Why all this pressure for summer?” As moms, we know summers are not any less busy than the school year, so why am I putting on the pressure to get through all of these things in a few months? There is not much summer left, and there has not been one thing on my to-do list about my spiritual life. (And why wasn’t I aware of this sooner)?

The closets can wait for the fall, but right now, the most important thing on my list is making sure Jesus has filled me up for the upcoming school year, so I can live out my call in him. It’s not too late to revise my list. That will serve me and my family better going into the school year than clean baseboards and closets!