Candidly, the start of summer has caught our family flat-footed.
 
Our kids are finishing school…and are driving us crazy…wait, we mean they are indicating by their behavior that they would appreciate attention, structure, and goals. Once again, it’s time for us to renew family life with a summer schedule that will keep everyone happy and productive, albeit in a relaxed mode. But how to go about this?  

Well, as we look to cobble together this new season’s schedule, we’re relieved to see the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus coming up soon on the calendar. We are reminded of Jesus’ great love for us and the need to constantly recreate a family life that allows us to follow his example and put one another first.

As we steady our eyes on his heart that burns with love, at least three guiding principles for the creation of this summer’s schedule come to mind:

1) Begin the summer with prayer. Consider praying together as a family in a special way in the lead-up to the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Before we race into some well-meaning family schedule, let’s be sure we have first knelt before the Lord, asking for his guidance, grace, blessing, and protection.

2) Let’s not beat ourselves up (too much) about unstructured time. Yes, we need to help our kids spend much less time on screens and more time in productive activities. But we can’t forget that they also need downtime—those valuable swaths of time when they drift a bit and then choose to pick up a book, play outside, create a new game, or just daydream.

3) Use your discoveries from Level 2 (Person & Relationships) to plan out Level 3 (Household Economy). In Level 2, part of what we do is discern the unique gifts of each family member. In Level 3, we put them to work. And summer is the perfect time to give each family member a project that helps them to develop in an area of personal promise while helping the whole family! So, for example, our young daughter, who is interested in all things environmental, will take over recycling and composting this summer. And we’ll help her plan and implement a better system than what we’ve had in place. With our bigger garden, we’re going to need more compost!

With just a few good principles in place, now we’re all set to sketch the beta version of our family’s summer schedule. With prayer focused on growing our love right out of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with built-in downtime, and with intentional personal development in mind, we’ll meet this week’s big challenge. Hopefully, we’ll come out the other side with a summer schedule that honors Our Lord’s great love for us with our own attempt to better reflect it in this season!  
 
“Come to me,” we hear our Lord say, “all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” May we hear our Savior’s words with new immediacy as we face whatever challenges—and receive whatever graces and consolations—this summer.  

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” Amen!