The Heat Is On

Yesterday hit 90 degrees. Now for any readers in the South I'm sure that is a walk in the park.  But here in Maine it is rare...and obnoxious because our buildings etc are not built for it.  And in MAY???? ...We had a frost warning three nights ago for crying out loud!  

So there we were, sweating and grumbling, unprepared for the heat.  My hall closet still has winter coats and boots and mittens not packed away. [Yes, even in Maine we do actually pack them away for a bit!] So with the kids home from school yesterday because of a teacher workshop day, I was confronted by red, sweaty faces, with one unhappy voice after another building a crescendo that would rival a symphony orchestra....... "I don't have any shorts!  Can we go buy me a bathing suit?  Have you seen my tank top?  Where are my basketball mesh shorts? I can't find my flip-flops!  Can we go swimming?  I'm gonna die in these jeans if you don't find my shorts!" etc. etc. etc. I thought my head was going to explode!

Where is everything?  In the attic crawl space of course... where it is at least 20 stifling degrees hotter than the rest of the house and no air moves!  So ... that hints at what my yesterday was like. Now it is a new day and with the temperature down to a more seasonable 65 degrees I am reflecting on how often in life we [alright...I]  fail to prepare far enough ahead. I/We pack things farther away than makes sense.  I/We don't always keep what we need handy.  Yes we usually have the things we need, but they may be buried beneath other things we think we need more or will need sooner.  It reminds me of an essay I once wrote about faith and summer fans.  For many people faith is assumed but not guarded, nor tended. Put aside like a summer fan once the heat has passed.  Packed away for "when it's needed."  When a crisis hits, they go hunting for it, to ease the heat of the moment, with its calming breezes. Unfortunately if they haven't used it in ages, it may be out of reach in the attic, or the cord may be broken, or the fan blades rusted, the switch bent, or some similar state of disrepair. 

I did find the shorts, the flip-flops, the tank top and the mesh shorts [though some no longer fit]. But I felt like I went through the firey reaches to find them. Yesterday would have been much simpler, much more peaceful, and far more pleasant if the summer clothes were kept somewhere easily accessible when needed.  If I hadn't had to struggle up the fold-down stairs in the mid-day heat to move things aside to locate the summer box.  if  If IF. Just as you can cool yourself with all kinds of fans, spirituality and faith come in a wide variety as well. But whatever your style or brand of refreshment and renewal.. keep your fan of choice ready. Yesterday was a good reminder for me to make sure that my emotional cooling fans, my fans of faith, are in good repair and right at hand.  Sometimes the heat in life comes at unexpected times and you never know how long it may last.