AMVETS CHAPLAIN AMVETS Post 79

Larry Williamson

Climate Control October 2014

But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way … Into Christ. Ephesians 4:15
The dew of the morning turns hazardous in the fall. Every morning you check for frost. The marigolds, petunias, and rudbeckia are ablaze with color. A single dose of frost can undo their joy. Tomatoes and peppers still grow on the vine, but you check the forecast every day to decide when to reap the fruit. Chrysanthemums and snapdragons can stand some cold, and Swiss chard will stay sweet until Thanksgiving, but the first frost signals that a greater freeze is coming. Warm truth is refreshing. Cold truth kills. Warm words produce flowers and fruit. Cold words damage what good the warmth has done. A tender Christian can be harmed irreparably by cold correction and criticism. Even mature, toughened Christians can lose their fruit to the frosty atmosphere of gossip and quarreling. We cannot control the climate outside, but we must keep our church warm. By love and the words we whisper we can keep the thermostat of our church in the comfort zone.