Shade Tree Wisdom 7/8/11

It’s July, and the living is easy. Days warm and inviting us to slow down and rest, to enjoy a summer breeze, to look at the colors God provides all around us, to spend a day in a hammock reading a long neglected book, to have a glass of freshly squeezed lemonade near at hand, and to visit with family and get acquainted all over again.

It’s July and our motto ought to be
QUOT LIBROS QUAM BREVE TEMPUS
Really, all right, this is what it says, ”so many books, so little time”.

Maybe time for a walk in a field with the dog. But even in July, keep your eyes open and observe, not just see.

One summer day in 1948 a Swiss amateur mountaineer and inventor took his dog for a nature hike. When they returned home, both were covered with burrs clinging to his pants and the dog’s fur. Instead of cleaning the stuff off, he took some to his microscope and saw all the small hooks that clung to loops here and there, and his mind envisioned a faster with stiff hooks and soft loops. He combined velour and crochet and called it Velcro.

George de Mestral, together with a weaver in France, perfected a fastener and the thing is patented in 1955. Now it is used everywhere as a fastener on clothing, shoes, and other items, and is a common item we all recognize as very useful.

Slow summer days often lead to ideas for solutions to problems. For when the mind slows down, it tends to work with the sort of thing that we are engaged in and leads us to solutions we can use.

Or it may be that a time for reflection will help us untangle a relationship that has gone awry and seems beyond hope, then comes a thought that leads to a fine solution and brings together people who really need each other.

So it is July. Slow down, even sit down for a while, take a nap under a shade tree, play with the dog, or the grandchild, and find time to really see God’s world in which He allows us to live.

The Psalmist said,
“As for God, His way is perfect.
The word of God is flawless.
He is a shield,
For all who take refuge in Him”. Ps. 18,30.
So do have a fine summer, relax, enjoy, and remember your summer motto: QUOT LIBROS QUAM BREVE TEMPUS.

GPD 7/8/11