Thirst Season
Thirst season begins at that time of year when the temperature rises just high enough. High enough that the skin needs to breathe. A little less clothing is warranted. You can see a little more body definition. Just a peek of those carved muscles. Everyone suddenly is out and about exploring the world again after the winter deep freeze. In Chicago, that freeze lasts until about Memorial Day, no joke. This year thirst season took its sweet time to get here. That is ok though because when it gets here, every year, it is worth the wait. June was a little cooler this time around, but warm enough to just start working up a thirst. Thirst season grows even more as the weather gets even warmer, hot if you will. By the time the temperature reaches its peak, so does thirst season. Instead of just a little taste, you get it all. The melanin production increases resulting in a beautiful pigmentation for all, making everyone a bit more attractive. Even less clothes now than before. It is that threshold where you can really appreciate someone’s workout. Good, mediocre, or could use some work. Regardless of the intensity and dedication level, you will see all the work that was put in at the gym in those cold weather months. Especially when thirst season lends its aid to the pool and the beach. Now you can see everything that you could only imagine all winter long. We do not have to use much of our imaginations at this point because reality can be pretty enticing. It is our current reality that fills our future fiction.
Thirst season is where the inspirational seeds are sown for the cooler months. All the images are scorched into our mind with the swelter of the summer sun. Burned into our memory bank to store like the squirrel stores nuts for the winter. Unlike the squirrel, I do not need food storage to get me through the winter. That is not what I need to store in my mind for the bitter cold months. Instead, perhaps images of water cascading off of a tall, dark, six pack as it emerges from the water. Sweat dripping over bi’s and tri’s while sipping hops that condensate in the scolding heat. Seared into the temporal lobe for later recall. Later recall for the winter…or just for later.
Who can resist thirst season? Not many. Not me. Call it what you will. Call me what you will. Thirst season is delightful. Definitely a favorite, if not my most favorite, time of year. Yet it holds as the most dangerous of seasons. Freedom abounds. Possibilities are endless. Responsibility falls to the wayside. Memory loss of pains of the past give way to the focus on memories from their carnal subsidiaries. The licentious nature wins over and over. If not in the whole, definitely in part. Self-control wains. Energy to curb advances are almost nonexistent. Maybe for a moment the buttoned up, straight laced, mature side of oneself will appear, but not always, and usually not for long. The thirst always creeps up and before you know it you are parched. Then if you are not careful the slippery, saturated nature of thirst season will quench all of the senses.
I have not utterly given in to thirst season. Not this season. Not yet at least. As the temperature rises to its peak, only the duration of thirst season will tell the outcome. The playful seduction of thirst season is very tempting and is all too easy to obtain. So what does one do when thirst season comes to their pool, their gym, their bar, their restaurant, their beach, their job, or their door? What does one do? Make a choice. Will the choice be the right one? Will the choice be a destructive one? Will water rise off the heat of the asphalt into a fog of steam that reduces visibility? When thirst season subsides, what will remain? Will the choice be a wise choice? A lasting choice? Will the choice become an agonizing memory that will last until the mirage of thirst seasons to come? What will I choose? What will you choose?
Scripture:
Pretty much all of Song of Songs (any version)
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Matthew 5:28 (HCSB)
“Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” 2 Timothy 2:22 (NASB)
“For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.” 1 John 2:16 (CSB)
“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:22-24 (NIV)