Easter 14 Heat

Life needs heat to continue. Or warmth. I went back and forth between the two words and settled on the harsher of the two.

Searching "warm" and "heat" on the Oremus Bible Browser, you find references to being warmed by a fire and being burned in the heat of the sun. There are references that pair warmth with compassion or refer to greeting someone warmly, and then there are references to the heat of wrath.

As a writer, I love words, particularly related words that have different shades of meaning. Like, incidentally, shade and shadow. One can have connotations of comfort on a summer day, the other a chilling pall over a particular situation.

A quick google tells me that our sun, at it's hottest layer, can get to be about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit, or 15 million degrees Celsius.  At it's coolest layer, it drops to about 3.5 million F, or 2 million C. These are temperatures that don't make sense to me. I can't begin to comprehend that sort of heat---and of course, I couldn't experience it if I wanted to!

Today, as I write this, it's a comfortable mid-70s F. So far across space, the heat of the sun cools enough for me to live, enjoy an open window on a spring day. Other parts of this planet are experiencing much colder and much hotter temperatures. Some places on this planet are scorched dry, to blowing dust and sand. Others are frozen over with ice. The point, however, is that without that 27 million degrees of the sun, I wouldn't me writing this at any temperature.

Heat is necessary for life. At it's best, tempered (!) by distance or shadow, we call it warmth. We grow, bear fruit, make relationships, and create beauty within this warmth.

Today, on my beautiful spring day in Houston, I'm celebrating and thankful for the furious 27 million degrees of the sun. May you, wherever you are, whatever your weather, experience the warmth of compassion and friendly greeting.