The Comfortable 73

"So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth." Revelation 3:16

As I held her hand, gently in my own, I could feel the cold. Like the ice in my cup of cola, or my feet on the tile floor early in the morning, the sting was almost shocking. And as I felt it there, the chill, I was aware of two things, while my mom's hands were frozen, I wanted to warm them with my own. 

My life would be perfect, I concluded, if the thermostat always read 73 degrees. I would never feel too hot or too cold. And here in Southern California , I know I feel entitled to that perfect forecast. But then there are exciting days when the car says it's 60 and the rain drops hit my windshield and the wind howls. And there are days when my friends and I are wishing we had worn thermal underwear to the football game, and brought the blanket from the car and ordered coffee on the way because we are freezing cold. The days when that so cold California winter hits. And suddenly in those moments we are longing to be warm again, to blast the heater in the car, or climb under the covers.

So you run to some warm oasis, your house, or the jacket of a friend and you quickly do whatever you can to get warm. Because, we all know, being ice cold is uncomfortable. 

You get home and the thermostat is set to your favorite spot and your fuzzy socks cover your feet and you forget about the cold. You forget about how miserable you were and how good it feels to hold the hot cup of coffee or soak in the hug of someone you love. You forget, the numbing of your fingers and the chattering of your teeth. You take off the layers of scarves and jackets and boots and settle into your cozy homes. And comfort finds you again. 

And there in the comfort we remember little about being too cold or too hot. That is until the moment you realize the heater is just a little too high or the six blankets are a little too much, or that it's Southern California and tomorrow it'll be sunny and seventy again. And then, my goodness, you are too hot. And everything is thrown off of you but your favorite t-shirt and you turn on the fan or open a window. 

And so it goes, the battle from cold to hot and hot to cold, and the longing for the comfortable 73. 

I think we would all argue that we love the moments when we feel just right the most, but what if the moments we needed were the ones  when we are too hot or too cold. 

I will not lie, I have grown to love the weather here and it's even keel. But how my heart longs for the change. There is something in us that longs to grow and expand and try something new. When the cold hits, I break out my best jackets and sweaters and cozy up by the fire. And that is exciting to me. Because it's different from my typical light sweater weather. And it's new. 

What if it is the same with faith? What if so many of us settle for comfortable? What if God let us live in a world where things were never hot or cold? What if we never had to adjust, or experience change, or try something new? Would we be content with that? Would we grow? Would we be better, love better, or hope for better? 

Some days my heart is as cold as ice. And I find it there seeking for warmth again. Those are the days I need hope. Those are the days I find it in the love of people who share their warmth with me. And some days, I'm burning with love in my own heart. Those are the days I give hope. Those are the days I bring warmth to the life of someone else. And then there are days when the comfortable 73 hits and I rest for a moment, in the goodness of God. But I never expect or long for those days to last forever, because I know there is more. My heart wants to be giving, growing, and loving.  My body is comfortable in the sweet seventies, but my heart needs the rising of passion and the cooling of despair in order to feel, in order to offer something to someone else, and in order to discover how Christ loved and calls me to love. 

I plan tuck myself under my favorite blanket and hunker down for the cold of winter and I'm excited to see where the cold and the longing leads me because that is what advent is; a time to wait for the light of the world to warm our hearts and the chance to give that warmth to others.

As I held my mom's cold hand I warmed it in between my own. Because today I had the warmth to share and I know on so many other days she had given the warmth to me.

Somedays you'll long for the comfortable 73, but I have come to know, the best days of my life are the days when I let the cold in or face the heat and find I thrive anyways. Not because I alone am prepared for it all because I trust a God who works with me in rain and sun, snow and wind, and even in the comfortable 73.