We were staying in a tall hotel. A friend and I decided to ride the elevator to the top floor and look out at the city. Just as the door was about to close, a woman jumped on. She was frustrated and trying to go down to the ground level and catch the ride that she was about to miss. She was not a happy person when the elevator started up. When we got off on the top floor, and the door was closing, so she could go back down, the message of Ecclesiastes 3:7 was heeded: “There is a right time to shut up, and another to speak up.”

Because of visiting hospitals I ride a lot of elevators. It is interesting how many people will not speak, or make eye contact when they ride on one. I think some people really want to talk, but others mostly just want to get where they are going. Once in awhile I will get a request to come and pray with a person’s family member. I have made a few friends that way.

I remember a man who got on the already crowded elevator that we were on. He was a happy sort who could put a smile on a stone face. He was witty and got some chuckles. When he spoke I noticed the claustrophobic tension that some had was easing. As he got off he said, “God bless everyone of you, and may your last ride be up.”

Some people are like a thermometer, they measure the tempture of the room, but change nothing. Others are like a thermostat that can change the tempture of a troubled and unhappy soul. Lord, make me a thermostat for you today.