There has been a fierce heatwave shifting across the country, and as my Texan family has already experienced a sauna-type heat, we are having a steam-room moment in Kentucky. I prefer the sauna over the steam room. I remember the days of my youth, working the front desk at the Metropolitan YMCA in Chattanooga during the winter.
The cold air would hit me each time someone came through the door and send endless chills down to my bones. I was a cold-intolerant person, and my co-workers knew this and were willing to give me a five-minute break every one to two hours so I could go downstairs and warm up in the dry sauna. I loved that sauna.
The sauna was a dry heat. I wouldn’t even break a sweat when I was there, so I could go in entirely clothed. I can’t describe what I felt when I knew I was finally warm from the outside in, but I could tell when the heat finally reached deep into my bones, and I could withstand another hour or two at the desk.
As we are nearing summer and this heatwave seems more like a steam room, those who have to work outside need to be careful as our heat index will be in the 100s. As soon as I open the door of my air-conditioned house, the thick, moist air rushes to take my breath. I know not to do any lengthy ranch work this week because it’s easy to forget the heat when you aren’t paying attention, just like the story of a frog in a pot of water on the stove who doesn’t notice when the temperature slowly gets hotter and hotter until it’s boiling.
That’s why we must use our brains, be aware of outside temperatures, and prepare for the heatwave this week. My horse Smokey will appreciate me coming out and spraying him with the water hose. Not enough to drench him because his coat could hold in the water and then turn very hot, causing a heat rash. But just a misty spray – like the mist you feel when you get close to a waterfall after a long hike. How refreshing!
Keeping hydrated is also essential – for our animals and for us. I will make sure I’m drinking enough water and refresh the animals’ water at the ranch during the day.
Isn’t water the best refresher?
Like a cool refreshing mist is the refreshing of the Spirit. When we aren’t in the daily habit of reading our bibles, or even if we are, but we feel as though we are going through the motion some days, we all need to make time to get refreshed.
God has graciously done that for us; all we have to do is ask! Ask Him to refresh your spirit, ask Him to refresh your mind, and take a moment to be aware if you are feeling dry and thirsty.
May we be like David, who says in Psalm 42, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirst for God, for the living God.”