July: New Month Questions

As we begin this 7th month of 2020, I thought I’d pose a few reflection questions that might help us enter this new month with a bit more intention. Most of the time, I find myself starting each month without really acknowledging that something new is at hand; months flow into each other seamlessly when times are hard or busy or uncertain. Even in joyful seasons, we can let ourselves get lost in time. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; there’s beauty in simply floating down the river.

There’s also beauty in pausing long enough to see where you are, and to think about where you’d like to go. I hope these questions might help with that pause. You don’t have to have great big answers. You can make this simple, daily, and sweet. Here we go:

1) When you look back at the past 30-ish days, what were the moments that challenged you? What moments brought you hope or joy?

2) What’s one thing you’re looking forward to this month?

3) What would make these next 30-ish days especially good?

That’s it. Three questions. You don’t even have to answer them all. You could pick your favorite and just go with that.

If you’re interested, here are my answers:

1) This is a season of pretty intense change for me. My husband and I recently packed up our beloved house and moved three hours away, back to the town where we both grew up. That move has certainly been challenging—the practicality of it (I don’t think you realize how much stuff you own until you have to put it all in boxes and haul it out of a house and then into another)—and also the emotional part. I was sad to say goodbye to the town we’d called home for the past seven years. But a friend called these our ‘honeymoon years,’ so I suppose that town was our ‘honeymoon town,’ and something about that idea brings me comfort. Those years will always be sweet, even when they were hard. Realizing that brought me hope and peace.

2) This month, now that we’ve finally settled into our new home, I’m looking forward to really enjoying summer. I want to be outside a lot. I want to read good books. I want to smell sunscreen and summer thunderstorms. I want to wear skirts and sandals. I want to drive with windows down.

3) This might sound impossible, but I’d like these next 30-ish days to be as free from worry as possible. I have been so worried lately, so afraid of the other shoe dropping, and I don’t want to live there anymore. Last summer, I prayed a simple prayer that has sort of changed my life: Open my heart. Make it full of love. I prayed this to God during a particularly hard summer day, and guess what happened: My heart opened up. It was suddenly, miraculously, full of love. Old jealousies and deep anger fell away. I have never forgotten that day, and this summer, I’ve found myself turning to that prayer again. Open my heart. Make it full of love. It works. But like with most prayers, you have to pray it often, you have to remind yourself of how you want to feel in this world.

Those are my answers to these beginning-of-the-month questions. Maybe you found something inspiring there. At the very least, I hope you’ll hold these questions for a few moments, and either take the time to write down your own answers, or to talk about them with someone you love.

Thanks for reading, and happy new month.

Beth