No Rushing Necessary

Today we are having another snow day. It should be called an ice day. There is so much ice out there that our power lines snapped and we have been without electricity for 5 hours now. When the power goes out, I am always amazed at how much we have come to depend on electricity for our basic daily needs and wants. For example, I wanted a sandwich and since the last of our bread was gone, I got another loaf out of the freezer--but guess what, I could neither toast it or microwave it, so I ate it frozen. Yummy! I could have thawed it by holding a piece of bread under each armpit-- walking around quickly for a few minutes to raise my body temperature, but I decided to forgo this technique and just eat it cold. I also had to adjust my to-do list today; Here’s what was on it:

• Iron shirts with an ELECTRIC iron
• Make zucchini bread with an ELECTRIC mixer and an ELECTRIC stove
• Work on Luke’s senior book on an ELECTRIC computer
• Mend some items and finish one puppy towel with an ELECTRIC sewing machine
• Make supper for the family using an ELECTRIC oven and clean up using water run by an ELECTRIC pump well
• Stay warm using an furnace powered by ELECTRICITY

Guess how many of these I achieved? None! Well, almost none. I am able to stay warm as I type this on my battery powered computer and sit by the corn stove that is now being powered by a generator.

How have we become such a dependent people? Wasn’t there a time when we could provide all of our needs with our own resources? I keep thinking about the “Little House on the Prairie” books. They did just fine with no electricity. They were accustomed to living like this. We are not. How can we change our ways so that we are not so dependent on this luxury called “electric power”? How can we change our habits so our days aren’t turned upside down when we lose it? Something to ponder as I sit here by the fire enjoying my forced “pause”.

Time definitely moves slower in the no electricity time zone. Lots of sitting, and reading, and drawing, and tuning guitars. And no rushing. I don’t like rushing And lots of quiet. I like quiet.

"And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

Phillipians 4:19