Furlough and the 2nd Coming of Christ

Getting ready for furlough and the 2nd coming of Christ have a lot in common.

First of all, it will surely come to pass. I have tickets for the 24th whether I'm ready or not, and although I don't have a date for the 2nd coming of Christ I know it will happen.

Second of all, I'm trying to get everything clean before I leave on furlough. This week has been very stressful trying to get every vestige of dirt and grease out of the kitchen. Patricia and I worked ourselves to the bone (mainly Patricia) and woke up with sore arms the next morning. After that experience we don't believe the house really needs a spring cleaning, BUT... I finally quit procrastinating and threw away pieces of paper that had collected dust in my office for years, and I actually threw an old bra in the waste basket (then retrieved it) and carted two armloads of clothes to the give-away! And, I allowed Patricia to throw away some egg shells that had been sitting on the laundry shelf waiting for the right moment for crushing them up for "someone" to use for a craft moment with their children. (Let's not mention the bag of folded coffee boxes or that can of old wax). I'm feeling liberated and hope you can see the link between getting one's heart clean and all the trash thrown out of it before Christ returns.

Third of all, my body should be healthy before leaving on furlough. Pat and I have been traipsing in and out of many doctor and dentist's offices and we finished our last exam on Friday by passing the stress test with flying colors (and I did better than healthy, careful- how-he-eats-and-exercises Pat!!). Right now I can't see the link between this third point and the 2nd coming of Christ, but I'm sure you will.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PATRICIA!!!

A belated happy birthday, Patricia Joy. We had fun at the Bonna Pasta Restaurant!

Have you ever found...

a piece of elastic dangling from the freezer door of your refrigerator?

It happened to me for the first time this morning. No, I'm not kidding. This morning when I went into the kitchen I saw a short piece of elastic hanging out of the freezer door!! I laughed! and yes, I can explain.

I am engaged in a sewing project and carefully cut two pieces of elastic for said project. With elastics in hand, I left sewing area for a reason I have now forgotten (I have been very distracted these days...) When I went back to my sewing, I only had one piece of elastic in my hand. Aha! I said. I must have let it drop somewhere while I zigzagged through the house, so I began to retrace my steps to the bedroom, the kitchen, the sewing table, the sewing machine, the ironing board, the big rocking chair where I sat, the trunk next to the chair, but it had literally disappeared into thin air! Defeated, I cut another piece of elastic and sewed it into place.

So, does that explain why there was a piece of elastic hanging outside the freezer door????

MISSING: ONE LAPIS LAZULI

My husband came back from a trip to Chile last year with a present for me: earrings in lapis lazuli, a stone Chile is famous for. Pat didn't know the name of the stone, but my research on the internet convinced me it was the famous "lapis lazuli" mined in the Chilean Andes. I was thrilled to own something so fine.

The other day, however, I was preparing to take a shower, and as my nature is to do things with great vigor and little care, I pulled off my sweater (vigorously) and one of my lapis lazuli earrings came with it. I knew it had to have happened just then because the earring backing was still stuck behind my right ear lobe. Thinking it couldn't have fallen far, I shook out my clothes, searched the floor on hands and knees, thoroughly looked through the waste basket, on top of the dresser, in the open dresser drawer, combed the bathroom, but all to no avail. I slowly came to the unhappy realization that my earring had simply disappeared into thin air and wasn't coming back. I took it as a God-given opportunity to "let go" of material things.

Soon afterwards I left home for two weeks to help take care of my new granddaughter Julia and daughter Patricia while Pat traveled to Chile and Paraguay. I secretly hoped he would bring me another pair of lapis lazuli (which he didn't).

The Tuesday after I returned home I was hurriedly cleaning the bathroom--vigorously and carelessly-- to make my goal of fininshing by 5:30 p.m. so I could go walking with a neighbor lady. As I cleaned the sink I noticed something stuck in the drain. The only thing I could see was what looked like an upside-down thumb tack. Thumb tacks are rare at our house, especially in the bathroom, so I jabbed at it with the end of an old toothbrush I was using to clean the drain. Once, twice, it resisted my pokes, but on the third try I heard a clink as it fell out of sight down the drain! I thought nothing of it, finished my cleaning and went for my walk. DAYS LATER IT DAWNED ON ME THAT I HAD PROBABLY BEEN LOOKING AT THE POST TO THE LAPIS LAZULI EARRING!!!!! Of course, what a dummy I'd been. That earring had been stuck in the drain all those days waiting for me to find it, yet no one had seen it. I was crushed. To have come that close to recovering my earring, only to let it slip away was hard to bear. It was GONE now, forever. (Our bathroom pipes are made out of PVC and are ram-rod straight with no way to open them up.) I had released my earring to the Lord, but all of a sudden it seemed like it was supposed to be mine again. (Okay, so I give it to you again, Lord.)

Since then several questions have come to mind:

1) Why do I have to do things so vigorously and carelessly?

2) Why wasn't I curious enough to look calmly and carefully at the object in the drain?

3) Why did I come soooo close to finding my lapis lazuli only to lose it?

You may find this incident silly and certainly inconsequential, but is there a lesson here for me?