Keep a warm heart

It’s been a bit chilly here. Not too bad, but air temps in the low teens with wind chills near and just below zero. I’m not trying to complain nor am I trying to act tough. It’s just weather. When it’s cold, you turn on the furnace and put on a coat when you go outside. No big deal.

Something  noticeable, however, is how the cold affects things we use everyday. For instance, a garden hose left lying in the yard in the warmer months is very soft, flexible and pliable. That same hose in these winter temps behaves much differently. That same hose from summer becomes frozen into shape. There is no working it. It doesn’t bend when and how you want it to.

The cold actually puts things in a state where they break more easily. Things that will bend and flex when the air is warm will now become brittle and crack or even shatter.

We live in a cold world. People are not always kind. Circumstances do not always go our way. In such a world, it is easy to crack.

The challenge then is to find warmth. Find a place, a relationship, a habit that keeps our hearts warm in spite of living in a cold world. Jesus is a good place to start. The Bible will help. Cultivating your marriage and a relationship with your kids will benefit. Plugging into a church that is a family will do the trick.

Anyone who tries to live in the cold without a way to keep warm eventually dies of hypothermia.