Is it true that absence makes the heart grow fonder?  You’ve heard the expression many times I’m sure, maybe even used it when missing somebody, or realizing they’re not there.  As I write this, I am having such an experience, not with a person, but with a thing.

That thing is called A/C.  The A/C in our home died four days ago, right before the weekend—of course!  The technicians couldn’t get an order in soon enough, so we have been dealing with the heat here on 10^th Ave!  It really is OK, but I will tell you: not having A/C truly reminds me of the blessing, no, I’m going to call it necessity, of A/C.

Historians as well as myself could wax eloquent on the history of A/C to the direct correlation of the advent of A/C to the boom of Florida residents.  Of course lots of people lived here before A/C, but they were hardy people, pioneering-type people. The masses came once you could cool your personal space down.

So, obviously, people can live without A/C, but like any potent drug, once you have found relief in feeling it, you don’t want to go back.  And that’s where I sit today, waiting for the technicians to come with our new A/C like a puppy looks out the window waiting for the school bus in the afternoon.

I know that I will celebrate when they come. I will dance when it gets connected, and crank that thing down so low that Janice will be wearing a parka!  By this evening though, I will have forgotten all about it, carrying on as we normally do along with the rest of normal Floridians.  I will take it for granted just as I did back last Thursday before it died.  So did the A/C’s absence make my heart grow fonder of it?  Well, right now, sure.  By tonight… not so much. 

Now all of this has been about air conditioning, but it’s probably not what the saying refers to.  What about people?  Do their absences make our hearts grow fonder?  I don’t know.  Maybe it depends on what you mean by “fondness.”  I remember when Janice and I were engaged.  She lived in Texas and I lived in New York.  That was the time of the breakup of AT&T, and we benefited from a then-new long-distance company called Sprint.  We also benefited from an ill-fated airline called People Express.  We could tell you stories about that one!  We travelled as often as we could, as we missed each other, but I do think my heart grew fonder of her when I spent time with her.  The partings were harder and harder the more time we spent together, not the time we spent apart.

I think loving relationships grow as we spend time together.  What do they say – love is spelled T-I-M-E?  Relationships are built around experiences and conversations, not spending time apart.  And so it is also with our relationship with God.  Spending a month full of Sundays away from church will not grow us closer to the Lord.  A year without cracking a Bible will not make us better children of God.  Hanging out with non-Christians will not better Christians make.  So I guess it should say “presence makes the heart grow fonder.”  The more time we spend with God, the more our love for Him will grow.  I think that works in the spiritual world and in the physical world.

And yes, the longer I have lived with A/C, the more I miss it when it’s gone!

Looking forward to a cool house this evening,

Craig

And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds.  Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.  Hebrews 10:24,25