Is it because I’m older, or is it really hotter than it used to be?
I told Mrs. Sweetie yesterday that I think summer hibernation should be a thing in our neck of the woods. Just stay inside and sleep under the ceiling fan until November.
Every time I walk out my front door I start doubting all my life choices. Well, maybe not all of them—just the ones that involve anything outside.
And this heat is making everyone act crazy!
Or maybe I’m so hot and grumpy and impatient that it just seems like they’re acting crazy.
I get up in the morning with plans for what I hope to accomplish and then I walk out the door and, “Nope!”
Can we all—including the weather—just cool it?
Ok, rant over.
I’m 99% certain (holding desperately to that unrealistic 1% dream) that there is nothing I can do to control this Texas summer heat.
I’m equally certain that summer hibernation is not a viable option.
And if there is any truth to the idea that I may be feeling it more at 60 than I felt it at younger ages—and I suspect there is a measure of truth there—turning back the clock is neither an option nor a preference.
I guess I’m just going to have to bring my own internal coolness with me.
What’s internal coolness? I’m glad you asked.
It’s choosing patience when everything around is a hot mess.
It’s choosing kindness when tempers are overheating.
It’s choosing to create emotional and spiritual shade for others—not “throwing shade” but being safe and letting people rest and be refreshed in our presence.
Proverbs 11:25 says,
“A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”
That doesn’t mean that our generosity is simply a means for our own benefit or that we are really serving ourselves when create refreshing shade for others.
It means that being part of God’s work through generously sharing refreshing “shade” is to participate in a community of refreshment where God multiplies the supply to meet the need in ways that often surprise us.
Take a minute right now and try to remember a time when someone—maybe someone you didn’t even know—provided you a momentary unexpected respite.
Maybe it was a smile and a kind word that was just at the right time.
Maybe someone held the door for you when your hands were full or stopped to help you pick up something you dropped.
Maybe someone let you get ahead of them in the checkout line.
Maybe someone sent you a card, text, or email just to let you know they were thinking about you.
Shade.
Refreshing.
Coolness.
Now think about how you could do that for someone else. Watch for opportunities over the next few days.
Cool it.
Be amazing today, my friend.
