When I came out of our house this morning to face another hot Southern California July day, I found myself singing the 1963 Nat King Cole song:

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Those days of soda and pretzels and beer
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
You’ll wish that summer could always be here
Those three rhyming word — lazy, hazy, crazy — seem to capture what this season means to us in our culture:

  • Lazy: School’s out, our work gives us a couple of weeks for vacation, we try to get away to a more relaxing environment, like the beach or the mountains or our timeshare.
  • Hazy: Often, with the heat comes a haze in the atmosphere, maybe including some smog or humidity. But “hazy” may also describe our energy level, which seems at least 10% lower than usual.
  • Crazy: Yes, summer is also the crazy time, when we may do edgy things that we might not think of doing the rest of the year, like skydiving or parasailing or falling in love.

George Gershwin had an even simpler way of describing this seasonal mood:

Summertime
And the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high
(from Porgy and Bess)

Easy — that’s the summer. (Jumpin’ and high refer to the fish and the cotton, not the people)

* * * * *

(Shhh! While they’re all taking it slow and easy during the summer, there’s an opportunity for you to keep trucking and pass them all by! Don’t say anything; just follow this advice:

“Study while others are sleeping;
Work while others are loafing;
Prepare while others are playing;
Dream while others are wishing.”

That’s a sound word of advice from Methodist motivational speaker William A. Ward (1921-94). Benjamin Franklin seemed to have the same idea:

“Work while it is called today, for you know not how much you will be hindered tomorrow. One today is worth two tomorrows; never leave that to tomorrow that you can do today.”

Of course, the Biblical Book of Proverbs also has a lot to say about keeping busy when you may feel like loafing:

Go to the ant, you lazybones; consider its ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief or officer or ruler, it prepares its food in summer, and gathers its sustenance in harvest.
How long will you lie there, O lazybones? When will you rise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want, like an armed warrior. (Proverbs 6:6-11)

I passed by the field of one who was lazy, by the vineyard of a stupid person; and see, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.
Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction.
A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want, like an armed warrior. (Proverbs 24:30-34)

As a door turns on its hinges, so does a lazy person in bed.
The lazy person buries a hand in the dish, and is too tired to bring it back to the mouth.
The lazy person is wiser in self-esteem than seven who can answer discreetly. (Proverbs 26:14-16) (Also see 10:4-5.12:11, 13:4, 19:15, 20:4, 21:5)

Shhh! I’m not going to wake up those lazy, hazy, crazy people; let them enjoy their easy summer. I’m giving you this inside information because you’re my friend. Now’s your chance to catch up and zoom on by them. Show them your smoke!)

— Pastor George Van Alstine