Saturday, July 7, 2012

Turning Up the Heat



Ben is standing at my elbow as I type in "www.weather.com" and we both lean in to see the projected temperatures for today.

"Yep, another hot one."  99 degrees by 2 pm.   He sighs and mopes away.  I know how he feels.

The house never cooled down last night.  It didn't get a chance to.  When I was putting those kids to be and turning around fans at 9 pm, it was still 90 degrees.  They lay down in front of them anyway, glad for a breeze if only a hot one.

This morning, I got up early to try and get a few chores done before the heat rendered me useless.  By the time the kids got up, I had realized that wasn't much of an option.

I'm noticing that, when things heat up, my imperfections float right up to the surface.  My patience is in very short supply these days.  It's all I can do not to snap about the smallest irritations.  It is giving me an interesting view of myself.  It is all well and good to be loving and kind and patient when everything is going my way, but what about when the heat is turned up? Time and again I'm failing.

I thought we'd have a few days like this and then it would be over.  I justified my bad attitude by saying "I just need to get through this day.  It will be better tomorrow."  Still, the days have turned into weeks and if I live my life waiting for the perfect day to behave the way I know I should, I could miss out.

This is the day the Lord has made, 100 degrees and all.  This moment orchestrated and planned by Him.  Who am I to find it sorely lacking?  To give up on gratitude and grace because it is just too darn hot?  Maybe, by turning up the heat, He is giving me an opportunity to grow in the areas I need to focus on.  By thrusting me into the fire of these days, a chance to be refined.

My sweaty baby, clad only in a diaper, comes up and pulls on my skirt, whining.  He wants to be held but who wants to hold a 98 degree furnace of a person on a 100 degree day?  I scoop him up anyway and we stick together.  He's hot and doesn't understand and just needs a little bit of comfort from me.  How could I turn him away?

I balance him on my hip and start breakfast.  There is laundry to be done and a home to keep up and kids to feed and shopping to do ... life, then, still to live.  I turn to take it on, heat and all, and pray to come out the better for it.


10 comments:

  1. Lydia,
    I'm so sorry you guys are having to suffer through this awful heat wave. We are in central Texas so we are accustomed to it, but also have very powerful air conditioners. I praise the Lord for those because summer is not my favorite. Last year we had 116 days above 100 degrees. It was not fun. I was also pregnant with baby #4 at that time. :) This summer is already proving to be much better. I can't believe you guys are at temperatures higher than us right now!
    Praying we would all be refined through the "fire" of summer!
    Bless you, I absolutely adore reading your blog!
    Love,
    Amanda K.

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    1. Pregnant during those hot days is so hard to handle!! This is really not something we are used to, here in Michigan. I am a bit worried about what it means this early in the season...usually August is our hottest month!! Thank you for reading, commenting and encouraging me! It means so much.

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  2. After having dealt with 4 weeks of this, including having visitors before our Arizona rated air conditioner was installed, I KNOW the irritation you feel. I gave myself a pass, I told my kids that,for now, we would be irritable and that we could watch t.v. all day long, we could eat popsicles. It would be over soon enough.
    And it was. While here in Arizona we're still dealing with the heat outside, I enjoy the coolness of my house. I wouldn't want to be hot like that again.

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    1. Lots of TV watching here, too....which I think adds to the irritability. We are all so sluggish and sleepy!

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  3. I'm struggling with this too (we're at 104 today and tomorrow) - my rowdy men are happiest when playing outside, and spending time outside does wonders to soothe my rumpled soul, too. But who wants to play outside in this? Yuck. So we're inside with the AC, getting a little stir crazy, and relying heavily on Netflix to carry us through. The forecast is calling for rain and a high of 88 on Monday... I'm going to dance in that rain. Can't wait.
    Karis

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  4. Yes Karis! We have a few window units that take the edge off but nowhere near solve the problem. Outside is simply too hot to be out in for long, especially when going in after offers little relief. Lots of netflix, computer games, books on cd going on right now. Tomorrow is supposed to be 86!! I plan to be out in it all day <3.

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  5. It's so interesting reading about you all experiencing summer when we over here (in Australia) are so cold!! :) I can completely relate to how you're feeling though, we live in a country area that's really hot and dry and regularly gets up to about 106 F in summer (I think, trying to convert C degrees to F!) and we haven't had a decent air conditioner here either, but Autumn will be upon you before you know it I'm sure (I'm really looking forward to spring!!) :) Tam

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  6. Hang in there mama, and don't be so hard on yourself, remember we are human too.

    I thought of you this morning, it was raining...finally and I stepped outside to do a little dance in celebration. My little man thought I was crazy, but then he joined me. Fun!

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    1. Thank you,Kim! The heatwave has finally broken, at least for now, and I am loving this weather! God is so good to give us a break when we really really need one!

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  7. Oh girl. My daughter, Lydia, and I were just talking about this. How the heat outside can turn up the heat on our insides. Even with our calves! We're trying to halter them, but they simply don't cooperate in this heat!

    This right here is it, my friend: "This is the day the Lord has made, 100 degrees and all."

    Sending much love your way ... and praying for A cool breeze too. :)

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