An August Adventure

Today is Saturday, July 31, and I have a few minutes to look around and consider what that means. Obviously, it means tomorrow begins the month of August. Do you know what “august” means? Synonyms include, “ brilliant, eminent, exalted, glorious, grand, grandiose, high-minded, high-ranking, highfalutin', honorable, imposing, impressive, lofty, magnificent, majestic, monumental, pompous, regal, stately, superb.

To me, August is the month a new school year starts. At my age, I thought I would be finished with the old “back to school” routine; but, no! For over 50 years, August has found me preparing for school. For 16 years, I was a student; for 14 years, a teacher; for 26 years, a parent; and for the past 12 years, worked with students in a program at our local college (many of these years overlapped).

This year (which might be my last at the office) I am watching in our family, a speech pathologist, an assistant elementary principal, a math teacher/volleyball coach, a 2nd grader, a kindergartener, and a pre-school sophomore go back to school. The adults are the least enthusiastic, but all are getting mentally and physically prepared.

Mid-August will hit with a wallop. Most of the family will scatter into their own daily world in three different schools plus a high school volleyball season plus gymnastics and dance classes. There will be some activity almost every evening; and finding time to eat (let alone prepare) an evening meal will be challenging.

August 1st also marks the first anniversary of our new venture into restaurant management. Are we better prepared for our second year? Not really! It is way harder than it looks and is extremely labor intensive not to mention minimally economically prosperous. Oh, our customers love it, but it takes many, many cups of coffee to pay the bills.

But, most important, mid August brings the first birthday of one of our grandsons. He has had a difficult first year, and I pray that God will grant him many better years in the future including total healing and radiant health like Exodus 23:25 and Deuteronomy 7:15 (which tells that God will take sickness away from our midst).

So, August here we come! If our goals come from the Old and New Testaments, I guess they would be:
1) Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8); and
2) Lead a quiet life, mind your own business, and work with your hands (I Thessalonians 4:11).

♫Many things about tomorrow
I don’t try to understand;
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand.

By Ira Stamphill in 1950