Love: A Chilly Revelation

As my website states, I am from Portland, Indiana. In the past month we have had first a big snowstorm, then a big ice storm that left the whole town without power and now flooding. As my house was without electricity for almost 6 days, I had a lot of time to think about life. I heard several people say that they were glad that they weren’t Amish because some Amish do not believe in using electricity. So as I was living in the cold trying to survive, I thought to myself, maybe it wouldn’t be too bad without electricity after all. Now don’t get me wrong, I was very happy when our heat came back on, but there are a few things that we can be reminded of through this. First of all, what is really important? What do we need? I mean really need? Do we really need a big house with a garage and two cars, or is that just what we want and think that we need because everyone else has them? I also thought of all the families who were forced to spend time together without watching TV or movies, playing video games or getting on the internet. Maybe some people even read a book or were forced to talk about issues they had been avoiding. Who knows maybe even a marriage or parent-child relationship was mended. It came to my attention that electricity may even be more of a curse than a blessing because we are misusing it. Now I am not telling everyone to turn off their electricity, I am just saying to think about what consumes your time. What is really important to you? When it all comes down to surviving as we were the past week, our money couldn’t really help us a whole lot. So the pursuit of money does you no good because it only buys you things and alienates you from other people. It does not help your relationships grow stronger and it does not get you to heaven. So, please think about your priorities. Try turning off the television at least one night a week and playing a game as a family or doing some kind of activity together. Don’t work so many hours of overtime in the pursuit of money, but spend the time with your husband or a friend. A lot of valuable time can be wasted by television, internet, shopping, video games, working on the house and even cleaning. By the time all these things are accomplished the children will be grown, you will be older and you’re relationships will have suffered. I heard today that people who have close relationships are healthier and live longer. Not only that, but relationships are the only thing that can be taken with you to heaven. So do whatever drastic measures you have to take to make your relationships a priority today. Don’t wait another minute, because it might be too late.