Ed, my old neighbour from Saskatchewan, called yesterday when the weather was so hot it made a person seriously consider that it could be a taste of hell. He challenged me when I told him that it was too hot to breathe. "I don't remember you whining about the heat in Saskatchewan. You've faced hot weather before, jump in the river or the ocean to cool off,” Ed said.
I asked Ed if he had heard that the equator had moved north so that we were frying like french fries in hot grease here in British Columbia. I told him it has to do with global climate change. He almost believed me for 10 seconds. My old neighbour refused to tell me how the weather was behaving in Saskatchewan. He Informed me those who move away from God’s country could only long for cool nights and comfortable summer heat. I asked him if it was hot enough there that he had the air conditioner running in his tractor’s cab. He answered yes.
I told Ed that since we were in the intense heat of summer here, everyone was ready to argue with and take offence at others. Cold weather contributes to people being indifferent to each other. The cooler the weather, fewer people stand around and talk outside. In the cold winter, people are more content just to be warm and comfortable inside the house. Hot weather sucks people outside to soccer, ballgames, fishing, camping and golfing. Even an ice cream cone is a powerful attraction to go out in the summer heat. The more people get together in hot weather, the greater the danger of sourness between folks increases. Ed listened to my theory that hot weather influences people to be cranky and critical and said, “whatever.”
Knowing Ed loves fishing I shared with him how some fishermen went recently with Steve Kaye a sports-fishing guide on the Fraser River here at Chilliwack. They caught a white sturgeon measuring 11 feet two inches in length and 54 inches in girth. It weighed 750 lbs. They measured the monster fish, weighed it, got lots of pictures of it and then released it. Boy did that offend Ed! He complained, “To catch such a large fish was magical, a once-in-a-lifetime event. To release it back into the river was a waste. They should have had it stuffed and hung the fish on a wall. They spoiled their chance for bragging about the real thing.”
How quickly we can take offence at what others have done or have failed to. We easily judge and condemn others. It can get to be a toxic way we think and speak, leading us to see ourselves as superior to others. We can see the speck of lint on the clothes of another person, but miss the dryer sheet sticking on our clothes. Out of our hearts, we speak either humbly or with self importance. If we see ourselves as imperfect and are ready to forgive others, we will be forgiven. What we give comes back to us. When we refuse to find fault with others, our hearts reflect God's undeserved mercy towards us cherished there. No judgment given means no judgment received. (Luke 6:37, 38 and 41, 42)
