Riding the Heat Wave

I have to admit, I'm spoiled.

It's about 700 degrees in the shade outside, and we're in the middle of a heat wave. And here I am sitting next to an air conditioner in my home still hot and sweaty, because God has a sense of humor- especially when it comes to pre-menopausal hot flashes. Great. Two heat waves all in one hot and sweaty package.

It's hard to see the blessings of God when my cellular structures are melting, but in a moment of clarity, they do come to the surface of my frying brain cells. For instance:

I don't live in the South. Not that there's anything wrong with the South per se- I just can't handle the warmer climes. Not just the humidity either- it can be 70 here and I'll be sweating like a racehorse if it's humid- but add heat and I am just a big puddle of misery.
Not that dry heat is good for me either- fire is dry heat, and you won't catch me near one during the summer- unless it's pitch black and I have marshmallows.

I have air conditioning. I didn't use to. In fact, for the first few years of marriage all we had were fans- and we were truly grateful for those fans! We'd turn them on and fill a spray bottle with cold water, and as long as we didn't move, we managed to keep our blood from boiling.

Cold showers. When it gets to the point of where I just can not get cool, cold showers tame the fiery beast. In fact, it drowns that sucker in soothing frigidness. The only time this backfires is when I have sunburn, and that first deep gasp makes me choke on the gallon of water I just sucked into my lungs.

A large living room. Oh the blessing of a living space where no one has to touch you! Often my kids like to lean against me when we watch a movie during the summer- but when I'm hot, even a pinky-length of body contact is too much. They have learned that when I give them the 'Touch Me and Die' look, they can seat themselves elsewhere quite comfortably- though this doesn't work with the cats (one in particular) who decides that despite his fur coat, he needs to lay on me when I'm my sweatiest.

And now, though my house is cool and I no longer need a spray bottle to keep from imploding, God decides to let the hot flashes cometh. I swear I can fry an egg on my head right now! Why can't He do this to me in the winter, when I can heat the house all by myself and save on the gas bill?

Like I said before, I'm getting spoiled- and God doesn't like that. He wants me appreciate what I have, and not gripe about what I don't. And believe me, I'm truly grateful when the hot flashes stop for a while!