A Shady Situation

 

Well, there is one thing that pretty much everyone in Texas is opininated about in one form or the other: the heat. And we certainly have a lot of it in here Texas. (The heat, that is... although we also have a lot of opinions, too!)

I'm one of those weirdos that loves the heat. Give me a good 97 degree day, my bathing suit, a big shade tree, and a little bit of a breeze, and I'm set. Add a pool or the lake to that and I'm in heaven. My youngest boy, Saxon, is the same way... the heat doesn't daunt him a bit. So, he often requests to go on a walk when it is the hottest temperature, during the stillest part of the day.

So, recently, I went ahead and gave in and thought oh, we'll just go on a little walk down the street, take a peek at the cows, and turn around. He apparently had other ideas. We walked to the Christian school down the street from us, wandered around their property checking out rocks and acorns, and then began to return home right about 5:00. You know... that time of day where there is no shade because the angle of the sun manages to dip right under all the trees and is just over all the tops of the houses. So, even I will admit that it. was. hot.

He made it pretty far before stopping and asking in a worn out little voice, "Hold?" So, I picked him up to carry him the rest of the way home. As I carried him, I felt bad that the sun was still beating down on his face, so I tried to angle myself in a way that would block at least some of the sunbeams from his face. Sure, it was his "fault" that we were out on this walk, but nonetheless... I love him and I wanted him to be as comfortable as possible in this not-so-shady situation. And I tell ya... the spiritual truth of that moment poured over me the way I wish a big ol rainstorm would at that moment.

This is what God does for me.

So many times I have gotten myself in a "hot" situation, and He has shaded me from the full heat of the blast. So many times I have felt that the consequences of my actions were so difficult that my soul was going to spontaneously combust into an explosion worthy of the 4th of July... but it didn't. So many times I have felt that I didn't get the full consequences of some choice that I made... and although I could feel that burning shame, it did not consume me.

And now I can picture myself, walking along in the spiritual realm, with my God walking alongside of me, angling himself so that the full heat of sin did not burn me. Looking down at me with a mix of pity and love. Protecting me from the wiles of Satan as he tries yet again to incinerate my heart. 

And God does all of this... Because He loves me. Because He cares for me. Because He protects me.

How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 36:7

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:19-23