The humidity is shocking today.  I’m sitting in front of my computer sweating without doing anything but typing. That’s usually my cue to turn on the air-conditioning, but my sense of frugality tugs at me and the unit stays off. “Why turn it on,” I reason, “when the sun will be going down soon and the evening temperatures will cool the house?”

I think back to my childhood.  I’m old enough to remember (gasp!) those days when central air-conditioning wasn’t considered necessary.  People went to the movie theaters to cool down, or their basements, or just sat with a cold lemonade on their front porches. Cars didn’t even have it, unless you called the breeze through the open windows air-conditioning.

Talking about air-conditioning seems trivial compared to the days when women had to get up at the crack of dawn to start the fire, get the vegetables from the garden, tend the animals, make their own soap and clothes, knead their own bread. The work day was a long one – from dusk to dawn – and often not everything got accomplished.

We live in a society where our wants often become confused with our needs. While I’m typing here complaining about the sultry humidity, I think about today’s women who live in huts, still drawing water at their well, going to the river to clean their clothes and tending their gardens to make dinner for their families – all in stifling heat and humidity. 21st century women whose only relief for the heat is a the shade of a tree during the day and a cool breeze at night. Women in today’s world without the modern conveniences I take for granted.

God used today’s humidity to remind me how easily selfishness creeps into my life. Do I really need air-conditioning? How about my washing machine? Could I live without running water and a working toilet? When was the last time I thanked him for those things? The things that make life so much easier.

Later this evening, I’ll take my dog out for her last walk of the day. In the cool of the evening, I can always hear the soft melody of crickets. In the darkness, that noise calms me, soothes me, relaxes me right before bed. It is in that quiet portion of the evening, under the moonlight, I will thank God for what He gave me today, for the blessings of family, friends, house and dog. It’s a time for my heart to leap with joy for I am truly blessed by Him.

Maybe sometimes we surround ourselves too much by technology that we can’t hear God’s still small voice drawing us closer to Him! Crickets, simple little crickets echoing through the night call me to unplug and pray…lead me back to God.

Something I could never hear over the noise of an air-conditioner…