August in Memphis gets our attention, the sun bears down, the air is heavy, shade is a valuable commodity. We learn to live differently in the heat. We look for shade. We carry water. We slow down. We check on one another. And we learn that you don't deal with the heat by pretending it isn't there, you respect it, adjust to it, and keep going. That's a lesson for life.
There are seasons when the heat comes, grief, disappointment, uncertainty, change. We don't always get to choose the temperature of our lives but we can choose how we walk through it. We can find shade in the people who love us. We can offer water to someone whose journey is harder than ours. We can slow down enough to notice what matters. Eventually, the Memphis heat will break. Until then, don't just endure it, learn from it. Sometimes the heat teaches us how to live.
This is Dr. Scott Morris for Church Health.