It's Hot Out There

For many, this is the time of year for vacations, swimming at the local pool or just sitting in the shade sipping ones favorite drink. To say that is gets hot here is an understatement. I have seen the occasional egg frying on the sidewalk and have witnessed the agony of defeat when a kid’s ice cream melts and falls to the ground – “oh the humanity’. This is also a time for reflection, to remember the sacrifices so many people made to make our world a safer, better place. They shed their blood so that we could have the opportunities in life to explore and realize our potential. Not in a world of death and destruction but in a world marked by the promise of something greater for themselves and for their children.

Because of this, we are able to watch the fireworks in the sky and in horror at the occasional cherry bomb thrown inconspicuously onto our groomed and manicured lawns. While we are making much merry, and rightly so, what we tend to forget is the spiritual side of the sacrifice. Recall how Jesus gave His own life so that we could have the greatest of gifts, the gift of eternal life.

Through His shedding of precious blood, He offered us rescue and redemption. Gone are the days where there was no hope, where we could not see anything past our own mortality. Jesus has raised the moral compass in which we measure our true temperature and in our propensity for violence and cruelty. He has saved us from ourselves. There is no need to envy one another, as we are all equal in His eyes.

When we go looking for trouble, and usually it finds us, we have this nasty habit now of listening to our conscience. Darn it. We shy away from what we might do because we see the potential in the people we are trying to harm. There is this uncommon tendency for good in everyone. So when you are ready to judge another, remember your own fallacies.

They say that when it gets hot outside, our moods are vastly changed. I disagree. I believe that if we stand back away from our problems, there can be solutions to the hardest of problems. Remember this thought as you sit next to the most obnoxious child at a parade or the most annoying habit your Aunt or Uncle can think of doing at the next reunion.

It comes down to this; we are a nation of leftovers. For example, that pie that seems a little too crusty or that meatloaf that seems to be able to walk across the dining room table on its own accord. Erma Bombeck once said, “You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4th, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.”

So, put down that skewer. Step away from the relatives and that fruit that looks questionable. We are all one, one in His precious blood and in the warmth of a grateful nation. May you find solace in that last piece of corn-on-the-cob, may He be our cooling breeze of hope and may His peace be with you, always.