Summertime, those sun-filled days of exploration and discovery, like a new hiking trail or new vacation spot, seems to me the best preparation for a new year. Because summer offers more mental space to take on new views. I always look to learn new things or new ways to do favorite activities…and this always means more thinking while I am doing!

Here’s a short list of past summer explorations:

• “Photo-hikes” on forest trails to see more nature
• Learned new games – sports and computers
• Different routes on the bike
• Read a book on an unknown topic
• Planted a garden with unusual flowers
• Class at the community college
• Cooked a recipe with unfamiliar ingredients!

Not surprisingly, with new learning activities (some big, some small), it’s really an opportunity to discover more about one’s self by breaking free of old habits or routines and broadening one’s horizons. Every time we take on something different, a new view is the immediate effect!

And then, when summer is over, we greet the autumn with refreshed and expanded thought, prepared for new opportunities that come our way. Maybe it’s a new job…a new home…a new school… or a new volunteer or church activity.

Whatever presents itself as different or even a challenge, we are able to leave the old and see the new view with courage, faith, expectation, and commitment. No wonder September (or March in the southern hemisphere) feels like the beginning of a new year!

“New” is good – it stretches and stimulates, affirms and rewards. So what’s on your new-view list this summer?