Sunday, April 22, 2007

398 and Other Totally Miscellaneous Musings

So for all of you who were concerned about the disconcerting state of my email inbox, you'll be pleased to know by the end of last week, I had whittled it down to less than 400 emails! Read: trashed - bada bing! (No, really I just "filed" them by month). I am trying to keep it to less than 500; I think for me that's an achievable goal.

The other night we had a power outage in our neighborhood. It didn't disrupt much more than the movie I was watching. We stood outside on our front porch and looked around at a very dark and quiet neighborhood, with only a brilliant crescent moon and a few bright stars to cast a bit of light across a pitch black sky. It was almost eery. Having grown up in the country, I've come to miss those nights of absolute peace and quiet. It occurred to me that people used to appreciate night time more than we do now. Thanks to electricity, we can read or work well into, or even through, the night. 'Twas a time when night time and darkness meant stop and rest. Now it's something we must intentionally do. Perhaps an occasional power outage would help us to stop and consider the real source of our strength and power!

I got to do one of my favorite things this weekend: work in our church's bookstore. I just love to be surrounded by good books, and I met several members with the same passion. And yet, other than a gift for someone, I resisted making any purchases. I am determined to get through the books on my Spring Thing reading list. Although I've already finished four of them, am part way through Quaker Summer and almost done with Boundaries In Marriage, so no doubt I will be either adding to or at least revising the list soon.

Speaking of Spring, it seems as if she has finally arrived in western PA (and yes, it deserves to be capitalized for showing up)! So I'm headed outside to do some yard cleanup and enjoy the beautiful weather. You never know how long it's going to last around here!

8 comments:

Girl Raised in the South said...

Hallelujah to Spring's arrival, definitely needing to be capitalized! And bless your heart for working in the store while I was at home, snuggled under covers. I'm setting a cutoff of April 30 as my end of book purchasing - when I'm out of the store, I'm not buying any for the remainder of the summer, August 31. Gracious how will I do that? But like you I have so many that need to be read, no way is it warranted to buy more. oxoxxo

Fishing Without Worms said...

In our class @ church this morning we watched a film by Ron Bell on "Silence". In the beginning it was so noisy in the film hearing the many sounds on TV, and other sounds we hear around the house and take for granted...then....complete silence and only words regarding how God really wants to communicate with us. It was so quiet in our room...and a bit uncomfortable at first...then I and maybe others started to enjoy the silence and the peace it brought. We were then reminded how we are bombarded 24/7 with cell phones, voice email, MP3, pagers, TV's,radios, IPods, land phones...not to mention traffic and noises at work and home. The question was..."How can we hear God Who speaks in the still small voice". Psalm 46:10

Barb said...

It doesn't happen very often, but when we lose power, my thoughts immediately take me back to the days of the pioneers. I love the convenience of having electricity, but there's also something a little enviable about the peace and simplicity they must have experienced.

Of course, I also find myself thinking things like, the stove isn't working? No problem. I'll just nuke dinner. I think I'm a little dependent on electricity. LOL

I get a daily blow by blow of your weather, from Bev, so I know you're glad spring seems to have finally arrived. I visited Bev in April - I've never seen so much rain in my life! But western PA is also one of the greenest places I've ever seen, too.

Dionna said...

I enjoyed reading your comment on my blog and I want you to know that I do visit your blog even if I don't always comment. :)

Susanne said...

It's finally beautiful here too! Yay! We actually ate lunch on the deck today.

Katrina @ Callapidder Days said...

Haven't the sunshine and warmth been absolutely wonderful?

Good for you for knocking down that inbox tally. Out of sight will hopefully be out of mind for you, so you can just forget about those emails that got filed away.

I was thinking along your lines the other day -- about how darkness and night should provide us with the natural transition into sleep and rest, but we are so conditioned to go-go-go that that's rarely the case.

Anonymous said...

How are you enjoying Quaker Summer? I have a gift certificate and I'm debating whether to buy it or another book.

gail@more than a song said...

Good for you on the emails, still working on mine.
SO glad Spring has come to you! Enjoy it. And let us know how you like Quaker Summer.