THIRTY DAYS OF THANKS AND GIVING.
DAY 18: TAKEN TIME
I don’t like it when my husband wants to do home improvement. I love him, but he’s a “Mr. Didn’t Fixit”. His brother is our handyman. He will almost always be needed to fix what my husband “fixed”.
One Saturday, Doug came home with a pricey timer for the hot water heater. It was going to save us loads of money on our electric bill. I was mad before I even gave him a chance to break what he was about to “fix”. He wired the thing straight to the hot water heater and set the timers and marked the date. He couldn’t wait for the electric bill to come. He was right. Our bill was significantly lower and I humbly praised him and his magic money saving timer. As a matter of fact, I’ve done a happy dance over the electric bill every month for a year now. And then it broke.
The timer is mechanical. It has moving parts with more moving parts. Moving mechanical parts break down. When that happens, I have a bit of a breakdown myself. I wanted it fixed but it needed replacing. The disc that rotates the timer was completely stripped. So off to Lowe’s we go and this time, we got the even pricier DIGITAL timer. (It will pay for itself in two billing cycles.) To optimize our investment, we asked Doug’s brother to come install it. Let the on/off cycle begin!
I’m thankful for this thrifty timer. It reminds me how valuable our time of rest is. During the initial outbreak of COVID, my calendar was stripped of every event and appointment. I thought I was going to lose my mind, but I found myself in a place of serenity that I’m certain I have never experienced as a parent. I sat on the deck with no agenda. I tackled tasks that had been too long overlooked. I returned to hobbies that I had not taken the time to enjoy for many years. I found value in the time of rest.
Busyness is dangerous. The continual mechanical movement across our hours and days and weeks will eventually strip us of our ability to function. Sometimes we need to strip our schedule, reset our timer, and rediscover the best of ourselves. I’m thankful for my timer and I hope what I have to give to you is the best of myself.
Riverbrat 