Praise God for hot coffee from Windmill point, and for still hot water in the water heater. Coffee and a hot shower cure many ills.
You are probably aware that we are out of power- have been since early Sunday/Saturday night. We are projected to be without power until Friday or Saturday this week.
We have been able to make do. We have two generators, and were able to procure a couple of space heaters. We able to keep the main living area at 62, and are not uncomfortable temperature wise if we keep the layers on. We are without coffee makers though, since they produce a LOT of draw on the generators. The sleeping areas are quite cold, and the shortage of light has been a real challenge for us. We also are forced to cook outside since we have propane gas cylinders on a coleman stove we can use. But we don’t want the carbon monoxide inside.
Yet the hardest part for some of us has been the fact this has all taken place at Christmas time. We were musing on the fact that there are no sweet smells of cookies and confections baking. There is no Christmas music to lighten the air...only the constant drone of generators! The gifts are in the very dark attic, where it is very hard to maneuver without light.
We took some time to reflect on our disappointments concerning these things. There were some hard words and even some tears shed. There were some statements about “not feeling the Christmas spirit.” We talked and thought, and began to realize together that we are closer to the Soul of Christmas right now than we realized.
Think about it. Mary had to leave the comforts of her home to go with her husband, Joseph to a strange home. All the best traditions point to the fact that it was not an inn (they really did not exist at that time in history) but rather a guest room for the ancestral family residence that was full. So they were directed to a cave….cold, dark...even musty and isolated from the rest of their family. There, to make do, with animals and a manger, the Christ was born.
They had to make do too. The Savior made do with his bed in the hay after leaving the riches of heaven. It was not warm. It was out of the way. There was no easy access to food and water as the baking equipment was all with the house. It was not sterile, and there was no wash basin. And OI! no coffee!
We realized that we were closer to Christ at this moment, while we depend on him for more basic things...like keeping warm, for hot water and food. We realized that we are on a short wilderness walk, where Mana from heaven, and not steak, will be a main staple.
We have added a lot of things in our culture to make what we believe is the Christmas spirit. Cookies baking, surrounded with family, the radio playing sentimental Christmas tunes and lights and trees, wreaths and mistletoe. These things are, in fact the intruders and usurpers that crowd out what Christmas is all about: The king of heaven giving up all He had to come and give himself up for you and me.
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