August is the month for me when my work is a bit less busy. I can catch up on the work that I have neglected to do when I have been too busy. August has a relaxed feel. Perhaps being able to go on holiday might make it important? I have always known that August was named after the Roman emperor Augustus. It was renamed to honour Augustus because several of the most significant events in his rise to power, culminating in the fall of Alexandria, fell in that month. Is August important because of a significant event? I have also discovered that other emperors renamed months like Neroneus (September) after Nero and Claudius (May). These new month names never survived thankfully as I do not fancy the month of Neroneus! I also discovered a story around August that sounds as if it might be true, but it is not. Originally the months alternated long and short. August was a short month and so being smaller made it inferior. The solution to the problem was to rob another day from February and make August into a long month and hence equally important! Resulting in July and August both having 31 days. It sounds like a plausible story but the calendar has always been unsymmetrical. So, for me, August is about a more even pace of work, for Augustus, it commemorated a busy work month. In reality, August is no more important than any other month.
Often our relationship with God can be seasonal. It can be cold or hot or somewhere in between. It is not that God changes but our relationships change. Like Augustus, we celebrate our successes and forget that God was often part of that achievement. Perhaps we expand the truth to make us bigger and better in the eyes of others. So often the person we deceive is ourselves. We cannot hide the truth from God. Unlike Augustus God does not want to be remembered for a past event, he longs for a living relationship throughout our lives. Sadly, it is we who tune God out or hide behind our self-imposed confidence. Like Nero, we do not see that pride usually comes before a fall. When we stumble or fall, it is then that we look around for help. If we had accepted the help that was always there in the first place we might not even have fallen. What is more remarkable is that in good and bad times God is constantly there. So, if, like me, you look forward to a break. God encourages us to rest and recharge our batteries. If August is a month in which you have to work hard. God will help and support you through difficult times. God waits for an invitation to join in with all that life brings this August.
