In the dark

I see it's been awhile since I have posted on this blog. Oh well, I guess that means that not a whole lot has been happening here that's worth blogging about.

About the biggest thing this past week was a problem with our electrical service. Without any real evidence to prove this, it seems that we have about the poorest electrical service here in Hesston that we've had any place we have lived. Anyway it appears to me that our electricity goes off more here than I can remember anyplace else.

This past Thursday was an especially bad day for that. I was "working" in the wood shop when suddenly the lights went out. Now being in a place with no windows and the only door shut, it suddenly became very, very dark. Even though this was for only a second or two, it seemed like much longer than that. In the Villa the generator starts up as soon as there's a break in the electric service, so it soon was light again.

But this event occurred over and over again throughout the day. I know it was windy but after all, THIS IS KANSAS for pete sake! Aren't we prepared for such days as this? After assuming incorrectly that the problem had been solved, by mid afternoon, I rebooted the computer and reset all the electric clocks (we seem to have a clock on all appliances, plus telephone, etc. I hadn't any more than finished that until, guess what, it went off again. So be it, I thought. Let it go! Then a few hours went by and so again I thought I was safe in redoing all the clocks, etc.

However, you guessed it, it went off again, and this time I somehow surmised that it was going to be off for awhile. It was almost dark now and I was in the middle of watching a very important baseball game between the Cubs and Cardinals. After grumbling around a bit I noticed a utility truck in the street behind us, so I went out to see what the main problem was. I was told that something was wrong near by but that a repair crew (these guys looked like repairmen to me) was on the way, but they were in Sedgwick at this point. Oh "boy" (not my word here), that means that it will be awhile, right? That was about 8:30 or so, and finally by 10:05 our lights miraculously came back on.

While sitting in the almost dark, with just a few candles burning, one is made to think again of just how dependent we are on such a normal thing in our lives. There's nothing to do when one is in the dark! Just sit, and talk. That part was o.k. But here in our house we always have time for that. So we just wait, albeit quite impatiently at times. But finally since there's nothing else to do, one can learn to be patient in spite of the circumstances and wait for someone else to make it light again.

I guess that's the lesson to be learned here, for me at least. Patience is something I'm usually short on, so maybe in the end I can profit from such an episode in the dark.

Pilgrim on the way (walking in the Light)