It’s June 21st, the first official day of summer and the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Today (also known as the Summer Solstice), because the Earth is tilted towards the sun, we will have 15 incredible hours of daylight.
The word “solstice” comes from two Latin words which mean “sun” and “stand still”. The sun will appear to stay in the same place for many hours today, and that extra energy has some pretty special spiritual significance.
The book of Joshua tells the story of the Israelite warrior who, In the middle of his battle with the Ammorites over the city of Gibeon, prayed to God to make the “Sun stand still over Gibeon,” until the Israelites were able to defeat the Ammorites. And guess what? God did it.
“The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since….” Joshua 10:13-14.
Just as today marks a new season of weather, it can also mark a new season in your spiritual life. Like Joshua, we can ask for and expect to receive the miraculous. While God provides spiritual renewal every day and brand new mercies every morning, consider today an extra blessing. Harness the extra hours of light energy you’ll receive today and manifest it as extra love, extra patience, extra joy, extra forgiveness, extra faithfulness, extra gentleness, extra healing, extra strength, and extra self-control: an overflow of the fruits of the Spirit.
Use these extra hours of daylight to achieve something new today and to stir up an atmosphere of newness in your life and the lives of those around you.
