We recently had central air conditioning installed in our house. My mother-in-law is probably wondering what took us so long…knowing my proclivity for comfort, especially being comfortable in the summer. She remembers the times that I would adjust her a/c to my comfort level when we visited. Well, we waited thirteen years. That’s not an exceptionally long period of time unless you really don’t ‘cotton’ to being sweaty during our muggy summers in eastern PA. I really don’t relish the memories of trying to stay dry and remain comfortable while getting dressed for church on Sunday mornings when it’s 92 degrees and 85 per cent humidity. But those minor inconveniences aside, it’s still nice to have cooler and drier air inside while the rest of creation is melting outside. Besides, I hear that having central a/c increases the market value of your home, should you decide to sell. Apparently there are others who don’t like to whither on Sunday mornings either. After the unit was installed and a test run was successfully done on the system, we looked forward to interior comfort during the months ahead. A couple of days later I discovered that the thermostat wasn’t registering correctly. We still had cool air, but not according to the thermometer. So, we had it replaced only to discover the next day that the replacement was faulty…we now had no cool air, no matter what the thermometer said. Our patient and kind a/c installer promptly replaced the defective unit with another one…muttering something about how they hadn’t changed the technology in thermostats over the last 20 years. Anyway, all systems are “go” now and we are rejoicing. This whole experience made me think about how well my spiritual a/c is working. Ever since I became a child of God, I have had the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life. However, there has been one element that impacts His effectiveness. If my thermostat is set more to sinning than it is to obeying (His Word), then His peaceful “cooling” presence is stymied. The Bible refers this as “grieving” or “quenching” the Holy Spirit. In this case though, the technology for correcting this problem hasn’t changed for millennia. A contrite and repentant heart is the only thing that will make the cooling peace of the presence of God felt again in my life. I can’t change the climate of sin that surrounds me, but I can be the recipient of the Spirit’s gracious peace within me.