Give Me an August Moon!

I love August.

The startling thought came to me unbidden as I gazed out the window last evening. The citrus-colored moon sat on a jagged mountain of a cloud. A leafy tree waved in the sultry dusky air. A hundred miles to the west, a storm gathered itself preparing to pour out sweet summer rain.

August has always been my least favorite month, right after January. The word “August” brings up memories of hot sun burning through my thin hair. A wind that quickly sucked the moisture from sheets drying on the clothes line. Airless nights with no cooling breeze.

August means “marked by majestic dignity or grandeur.” Indeed, the month is a grand culmination of the season. Golden fields of grain are ripe for harvest. The juiciest tomatoes and tastiest green beans wait to be picked and savored. Calves and fawns and kittens born in the spring reach a level of maturity in August.

Genesis 8:22 states, As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. (NIV) Noah received this promise from God after the Flood thousands of years ago. In a time of political, moral and climate upheaval, it’s reassuring to rest in the promise that life is marked by seasons.

Indeed, August was named after Caesar Augustus whose iron rule caused much misery throughout the Roman Empire. But even he and those times were held in the hand of God. Because Caesar decreed a census of the land, a young couple traveled from their home in Nazareth to Bethlehem. Their child, Jesus, was born in that village fulfilling a prophecy about the Messiah’s birth given eight hundred years earlier.

So relax. When life becomes too overwhelming, just take an August drive and observe the ancient cycle of planting and harvesting in full bloom. Breathe in the fact that the world still rotates, the stars still waltz elegantly across the sky, and God is still in his heaven.

Oh give me a harvest moon in August, with a symphony of music provided by crickets and air heavy with the fragrance of flowers, grass and the ripened fruits of summer. Give me a night where gray clouds part in the blue velvet sky to reveal a single red planet glowing in the western heavens. Give me August as a reminder that seasons change but Eternity doesn’t.

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

Galatians 6:9 (ESV)

Writing Update

To celebrate it’s 10th birthday, By the Banks of Cottonwood Creek is $10 on Amazon until August 31. Follow the story of life in a rural community in the sequels, Amber’s Choice and Cottonwood Dreams, which are also on sale for $10 each. I’m just recalling that August was both the worst and best month for a main character, Amber!

I recently spent four days attending the Write His Answer online conference. It’s is one of the best in the nation, drawing over a hundred Christian authors and a couple dozen presenters. There were a dazzling number of continuing tracks, workshops and main events. In the past I’ve traveled to Estes Park, Colorado to take part. That mountain setting was oh-so inspiring, but times have changed. This year’s online edition gave plenty of inspiration, motivation and direction without leaving home.