At 12:55 this afternoon, Jack and I joined the “Society of the Centrally Air Conditioned” (SCAC). When that first puff of cold air came floating through our 72 year old registers, the two of us, poised to feel it, rejoiced. By 5:00 our hot cottage had been given new life at 76 degrees, and the condensation on my windows had moved from inside to outside. Amazing.

Nate and I enjoyed air conditioning in our Illinois home and eventually took it for granted. But this year the combination of no AC and a high-temp Michigan summer put AC status at “dearly desired.”

During this year’s first cluster of 90 degree days, I took a poll of how many homes in our neighborhood were in the SCAC and how many weren’t. While walking Jack, I counted the houses with closed windows (cool inside) and open (hot inside), learning that 80% of my neighbors were already in the club.

This morning, pre-AC, as I put on clean clothes that already felt wet, a rush of anticipation helped me recognize that cool air on a hot day is a precious commodity never to be taken for granted.

How many other precious commodities am I currently taking for granted? Remembering back to when Nate was still with me, I under-appreciated far too many things about him and our marriage. Just today I thought of something quite special about him that I took for granted at the time.

When I asked him to do something for me, such as buy the ink replacement for my printer (an unusual cartridge, hard to find but available in the Loop) he’d always come home with my request completed. Sometimes I’d forget I’d even asked, but he never forgot to get it done. One day I said, “How do you always remember to do those things?”

He said, “Simple. When you ask a favor, I always do that first.”

In other words, on a day when he knew he couldn’t possibly get everything done, he began with me. Did I fully appreciate it?

But those days are over. I’m no longer married and can’t reverse taking Nate’s kindness for granted. But how about now? What’s happening now that I should be appreciating? The scriptural Paul daily appreciated being included in God’s family, allowed to have an ongoing relationship with Christ. He couldn’t get over that the Lord would allow him to represent the Gospel to others, after he’d led such a sinful life. He never once took his salvation for granted.

But shouldn’t that be the attitude of us all? Sin is sin, whether small or large, and we’re all in Paul’s camp, none qualified to be in God’s family on our own. Are we openly appreciative we belong to him? And when he gives us an assignment, are we as eager to fulfill it as Paul was?

Although I’m appreciative of my membership in the SCAC tonight, that’s nothing compared to my membership in God’s family. The question is, do I really appreciate it…

“I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him.” (1 Timothy 1:12)