Great Lent is fast approaching. It is a time for self-reflection and re-evaluating one’s direction in life. A time to see what has been in the past, how far one has come, and what needs to be improved.
It is a time for accepting what has happened, what is going on right now, and embracing the unknown.
In a word (or two), “perfect acceptance”.
Current events…
Before the first pre-Lenten week began, our family underwent a major shift in our position. It was a good thing and forced all of us to reflect on what was best for us to move our lives forward.
Just before leaving for Liturgy on Sunday, the electricity on the house began showing strange signs. Lights and receptacles began to randomly stop working. Overhead lights began to flicker. The refrigerators started showing problems running. The furnace went out. The stove didn’t work.
After arriving at the church an hour from the house, I realized that this was not a wise move.
And we had to leave.
Before we all left, a decision was made to leave the main electrical panel on instead of shutting everything down.
Mistake.
After arriving at the church an hour from the house, I realized that this was not a wise move. The family left after I did, but when reaching out to have them shut down the main, I saw them pull into the parking lot.
Thank the good Lord for wonderful neighbors!
After getting in touch with our amazing electrician and the power company, I called the neighbor to turn off our main to the house. It was beginning to look like a potential fire could emerge from all this, and the animals would be trapped inside the house.
He went across the fence and shut it off for us. We wouldn’t arrive home for another 4 hours, so that was a load off my mind.
The “nopes”..
The power company came out and tested the transformer and power from their side. That narrowed down the source of the problems.
In the late afternoon, the electrician came out and checked out what was going on. He rebuilt the outside panel box, switched wiring around to give us temporary power, and did what he could until the light faded.
We’d lost one leg of our power. Something was seriously wrong and was shorting out our electricity.
He came out the next day after working on another project. He was pretty sure we had a problem with the main line from the pole, but he wanted to be doubly sure before we spent money on something that wasn’t the root cause.
And he graciously was working around his booked schedule to help us out.
Then we both came to the same conclusion…
No matter how it was cutting it, the line would need a major rework.
Almost three years ago, the manufactured home dealer installed the house. But they did sloppy work, and left us high and dry without giving us the courtesy of a final inspection, filling in all the holes they left in the yard, repairing the broken water lines they did, upgrading the septic system to accommodate the increased number of bedrooms we had, or laying the electrical wiring to code.
They did leave us with a financial mess. And this was one more problem that reared its ugly head years after the fact.
So we had to have the entire line replaced, and, this time, properly enclosed in conduit so it wouldn’t be damaged again.
Blessings…
When the electricity was restored 4 days later, the light came on for the first time not only brighter, but no flickering that we’d seen since the house was hooked up. The ceiling lights no longer randomly turned on or glowed from the short we didn’t know we had.
But the greatest blessings we had were…
And, fingers crossed, our electric bill should go down by over $100 per month. Again, how were we to know?
But the greatest blessings we had were that we had the money to cover the expense, and that the necessary help we needed during these days all came together.
Even the weather that had been brutally cold was warm enough to not worry about our water lines freezing. And my office shed was able to be used to provide electricity to power one of the refrigerators, so we didn’t lose any food. It was on a separate electrical system installed by the electrician a year ago.
But something else happened…
Our family came together. In spite of the added stresses and worry about the expenses, we managed to pull together.
The lack of electricity reduced our use of technology that I was noticing as the source of division. The adults constantly running YouTube shorts with the kids surrounding them like jackals, and computer games the kids got each day prevented something important prior to this time.
They didn’t really notice each other. Instead they were in the habit of being focused on things less important that relationships.
For the first time in years, I heard the sound of laughter and delight as the dad told stories of his childhood. They were able to listen to the past and share in the joy of interacting without fighting.
For the first time in years, I heard the sound of laughter and delight…
They played outside and went to bed early with the sun. Kerosene lighting wasn’t as bright as electric lights, and the natural rhythm of the night settled upon all of them.
In the morning, candles and kerosene welcomed them when they finally arose, for the first time refreshed after deeply sleeping in the cool night air.
Seeing that glimpse of what could be made me hopeful for the future. For the first time, the distress of seeing and hearing anger and arguments was replaced with happiness.
And during it all, my family learned the value of accepting problems that came to us, knowing that we could only lean on the One who brought that trial to us.
It was just long enough to give us insight into ourselves and our relationships.
And for me, it was the first time I’d seen peace in the home, living within the bounds of our natural environment without the interference of outside distractions. There is nothing more beautiful than this.
