Little Inconveniences

We had a thunderstorm this afternoon with some pretty high winds. Somewhere along the line, a tree fell, knocking out our power about 5PM and it is still off. So, here we are, sitting in the dark without television or use of the Internet. Oh, I have a laptop with a two hour battery which will be gone perhaps before the electricity comes on. The power company said it would be back on around 10 or 11PM. We will see.

To us, this is just an inconvenience, one we have to put up with every once in awhile. But, our 13 year old grandson is here, so he has nothing to do except play the guitar in the dark. We do have a few candles sitting around and an oil lamp, but that doesn’t make for reading, and it doesn’t take care of watching television or being on MySpace.

I remember when I was a very young child. We had only one light stringing from the ceiling in each room. Candles were in use lots around our house. We didn’t have a television until I was in the 9th grade. We didn’t have a telephone until I was about 12. The existence of games was a monopoly game, checkers, and the like. We didn’t have anything like Playstation or Nintendo. There were no iPods or DVD players or PSP’s. We played outside lots with horse shoes or washers and they were the ‘real thing’, not those that now come from the stores. Basketball was very in back then, also.

I can’t remember ever thinking that these were inconveniences. It was just the way of life back then. We didn’t feel poor or like we were doing without. We didn’t know there were other things. In fact, there wasn’t where I lived. I even remember the day they paved our road by our house in the little town I lived in. Now, we think it’s terrible when a hole comes in one of the big Interstates. In my earlier days, we had no idea that an Interstate would ever exist. We were used to two lane roads running across country, and then came a few four lanes to take the heavier traffic. Now, it’s an inconvenience to be going to work even on a six or eight lane highway with traffic so heavy you come to a standstill before you make it into downtown.

Man has definitely become spoiled! And, when these little things come our way every now and then, it upsets us to have to do without for a few hours. And, as I wrote that last sentence, the lights came back on. I was praising the Lord! We have to admit we are very thankful for those things we have to occasionally do without. We need to thank the Lord more for those conveniences, things are forefathers never had. One set of my grandparents never had a bathroom in their home. And, I don’t know how we would do without the ones we have! They first had well water, but did finally get running water in their home before they died. And, I never once heard them complain.