Corona Devo 1641

Hot, hot, hot! 

We have had a few very hot weather days, and last night as I took a cold shower and felt cool relief for the first time all day, I remembered a saint in my life from years gone by.

I use the word "saint" in the same way that Paul alludes to believers-in-Christ as saints.  Not as "perfect" people, but as people who have received Christ's sanctification because they have received Christ.  We are not (ever) perfect, but Christ is, and so when we place our trust in Him, we become sanctified in Him and because of Him.

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— (31) that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”  ~I Corinthians 1:30-31

Paul uses the term "sanctification", but the roots and meaning of the two terms are the same: holy.  Because of Jesus, we become sanctified...we become (in a word) "saints".  

And...some of us more than others...

One "saint" in my life was Sister Pat McCaffrey, OSU.  For almost 10 years I worked at a Catholic college with her, and I was blessed to get to know and love her and a number of women who had given their lives to the Lord and served as Catholic sisters. They were my co-workers, they were my bosses, they were my friends, and they were my examples. 

Fruits of the spirit?  They had them all....  

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law!  ~Galatians 5:22-23

But what I came to respect and admire most about each of the sisters that I knew, was their contentment in this life.

They were not hoping, striving, talking, or praying for more of anything. They were (instead) content with their situation (seemingly irregardless of what it was).

But godliness with contentment is great gain. (7) For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. (8) But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. (9) Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. (10) For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.   ~I Timothy 6:6-10  

That's why (although it may sound odd), I thought of Sr. Pat when I was enjoying my cold shower the other day.

Cleveland Summers get really hot and humid sometimes.  I can't imagine what I would do without my air conditioning on those days.  

Sr. Pat lived simply, and she didn't have air conditioning.  On those hot, hot Summer days, she never complained, but once she did share with me that one of her daily highlights was taking a cold shower at the end of the day, because that was often the first time all day she could attain a feeling of being cool. 

That was her joy on a hot day...the five minute shower right before bed.  

She was grateful for the few minutes of cool down , rather than ungrateful for the almost 24 hours of hotness the rest of the day.  

She was a saint(!), and she was a human example to me (and us) of how to live beyond our humanness.

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. (12) I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (13) I can do all this through him who gives me strength.  ~Philippians 4:11-13

~~~

So...what is challenging us today?

What is causing us discontent in our circumstances, and...are we having a saintly reaction to it?  

We can be, and we should be.  

Extremely hot temps, or sub-zero arctic ones: But godliness with contentment is great gain.   ~I Timothy 6:6

Super-hot and stifling weather, or a sunny day with higher temps: the perspective and attitude is up to us.  It's our choice each day.

Let's be joyful in God our Savior today, and let's choose contentment.  If the world around us is heating up: be content and take a nice cool shower.  

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, (18) yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  (19) The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.  ~Habakkuk 3:17-19

~~~

Look at all of the things/stuff/trophies/facades that we worry about and strive for.  What if we made  a vow (like my sister-friends) to lay down our desires, and to pick-up a gauntlet of contentment?

Lord, help us to gain today.  To gain contentment, to gain perspective, and to gain gratitude. Amen.

Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com