My MBTI personality type is ISFJ and one of the great things about being an ISFJ is that my memory is strongly connected to my senses. Certain sensations can take me back to memories that I can recall with vivid detail. Gentle summer breezes rustling through trees, lightning bugs dancing their illuminated dances, a warm wind blowing on my face, freshly cut grass, and verdant vistas bring back friends, silly situations, and fond memories.
Last night, I was at an outdoor church event and decades of summer memories came flooding back to my mind as I watched the clouds chase each other across the sky and listened to wind whisper through the leaves of the trees.
I remembered leaving my best friend’s rehearsal dinner the night before her wedding and looking over a field filled with thousands of lightning bugs sparkling in one of the most stunning displays of God’s creation I’ve ever witnessed. I remembered a night during college when my high school friends and I were all home and we stood in one friend’s driveway until 2:00 AM talking and catching up, none of us having any clue what time it was because we were enjoying each other’s company. I remembered the sense of freedom I felt with a hot wind blowing on my face from the open windows in the back of my friend’s car as we went to the movies on a weeknight, knowing we didn’t have to get up in the morning. I remembered games of Ghost in the Graveyard and Flashlight Tag with neighborhood kids. I remembered running up and down my grandparents’ street with a jar, trying to catch lightning bugs. I remembered the excitement of going to a church dance with a friend, wondering if we might meet someone special there. I remembered coming home to Mom and Dad with the sounds of baseball on TV and crickets chirping outside. I remembered walking with a friend to buy Slurpees at 7-11. I remembered getting ice cream with friends and walking and talking together as we ate it.
There was something special about those summer nights. Maybe it was the freedom of knowing I didn’t have to get up for school the next day. Maybe it was the potential for adventures. Maybe it was the increased time outside connecting with God’s creation.
As adults, I don’t think we take the time to appreciate these things. I guess for one thing, summers don’t mean the freedom from responsibility they did when we were younger. I think we also seem to have either a self-imposed or society-imposed expectation to be always doing something or to be always engaged in some work… or, maybe that’s just me. But next time you get a chance to be out on a summer’s night, take a minute to listen to the wind, watch the lightning bugs, feel the cooling of the air, and smell the grass and see if it doesn’t take you back to those summer nights when you were younger. Then, even for just a minute, you can be that kid or teen enjoying freedom, anticipating adventure, and enjoying God’s creation.