Know When To Close The Doors

When we lived in Memphis, the windows in our house were painted shut and thus deemed inoperable, an impenetrable barrier against the oppressive heat and humidity that only Memphis can offer.  From house to car to store, we lived in a state of air conditioning.  Ceiling fans decorated just about every room.   In the South, I quickly learned that if you wanted to do anything outside, you did it before 8 am.   I ran early.  And I sweated a lot.  By evening, the heat built up into a blast furnace.  The only thing moving outside was the hum of the cicadas’ chorale every night.   Bill’s mom grew up in southeast Alabama, not too far from the Florida stateline.  She said that as a little girl, sometimes it became so hot at night, they would all pile into the car and drive around with the windows down just to feel a breeze.

Where I live now, summer days get hot and sticky, but for the most part, it will cool down a bit at night.  There is nothing I enjoy more than to sleep with the windows open, feeling the soft cool air creeping in and waking to the sounds of songbirds.  The trick is to open the windows and the screenporch door at night to let in the cool air and then know when to close up the house before the heat invades in the morning.  That way, the house stays cool naturally for hours afterward.

As in many things in life, we need to know when to close the doors and latch the windows -- when a television show becomes a fixation, when a friendship isn’t healthy, when shopping or gossip becomes an obsession, or perhaps, when one is pulled toward questionable behaviors by one’s peers.  Know when to close the doors, batten down the hatches, and flee in the opposite direction.

These things may not be inherently bad, indeed, most things are good in moderation, but BEFORE it develops into a snakepit, a sheer cliff, an addiction, or an obsession (which the Old Testament would call an “idol”), it is time to recognize its power over your heart.  Know when to close the doors. 

 

All things are lawful for me,

but not all things are helpful.

All things are lawful for me,

but I will not be enslaved by anything.

                       1 Corinthians 6.12