Accumulations

We only have a very small apartment here and so we cannot accumulate stuff.  To accumulate stuff denotes that we have ‘moved in for the long haul’, and that describes permanency.  We are anything but permanent here and so I was looking in the magazine hopper and saw that there was a collection of newspaper from the weeks between Christmas and New Year announcing all kinds of sales to tempt the crafters palate and needs.  Each time a newspaper came with these wonderful offers, I just put them in the hopper, much like I do at home in Arizona, with the hope that I will go to the stores.  However, when I do go to these stores, I look at all the stuff there and realize that I have lived without it all this time and I can surely exist further – it’s like dreaming you are eating a delicious New York Cheese cake at an expensive restaurant and then waking up still hungry but not needing a membership to weight watchers.  In other words, I loved my crafters life in Az. But this time in my life is not the time to be getting involved in crafts.  This takes a bit of getting used to, but I really do not have the space here to accumulate any craft stuff……………after all when it comes time to leave to go back to Az, if it does not fit in the car it stays here or goes in the trash.  So now I have thrown out the advertisements for these stores – it’s like having surgery.

On our way to church today we noticed how much ice has formed on the river from Hallowell on down.  It gets solid ice in this area down past Gardiner and soon the ice fishing houses will be put out on the ice for the fishermen to try their luck.  They have a law here that if your ice house or snowmobile etc. that you are using on the river when it is iced over, falls through the ice, you are responsible to get it out of the river.  Guess it is Maine’s answer to the Arizona Silly Driver Law.(i.e. don’t drive into the wash if there is water in it because you will get a hefty fine if they have to come to rescue you for your dumb actions.)  They also notify people when the Coast Guard Cutter comes to break up the ice near the end of Winter.  That might be a sight to see.  They tell me that the river here in Augusta does not ice over solidly due to the fact that it flows too swiftly here.  I have observed it flowing swiftly from time to time.  But likewise, broken up ice from upstream makes its way down to Augusta and if the ice at Gardiner is not broken up, the end result is floods as the water backs up.  They have had floods in Augusta, Hallowell and Farmingdale and Gardiner in the past due to a back up of ice.  The only river I have ever seen ice over was the Stoneycreek in Johnstown, but it did not flood due to ice back up – it flooded due to too much rain falling on the area.

My Sunday School class today was about the Judgement.   I have heard some pretty fiery preaching from TV preachers and it was all gloom and doom and if you don’t shape up it’s the fiery pit for you type of preaching.  I go into a depression over this approach so I decided that my focus would be on the hope for all of us that we would gain the highest reward due to our efforts.  I tried to encourage the class to make the best effort possible so that they could return to live with Heavenly Father.  It was a more pleasant class as a result.  A participant in last week’s class was overcome with the idea that she had a hope to work for – and not wallow in the gloom and doom that she has heard heretofore on the TV preaching circuit.  None of us are off the hook – once having made the decision to follow Jesus we are bound to that promise and he is beckoning us on further.  The lady we visited yesterday, who lives in dire straits, noted that there are too many rules to live by – she just cannot see how these can help.  It was my turn to talk and I pointed out to her that by keeping the commandments we are actually set free from many of the problems of mortality.  By keeping the law of tithing, we are disciplined in our spending and consequently we find ways to do more with the 90% we have and the Lord can do more with the 10% we give him.  If we keep the Word of Wisdom, by not smoking just for starters, we can have better lung health and total body health, not to mention that we do not burn up loads of money in paying for cigarettes.  She looked downcast and said that she just cannot seem to give up cigarettes and she can see no problem with drinking wine or other alcohol and the tea and coffee rule seems absurd.  She cannot believe that Tea and coffee contain chemical compounds that also harm the body.  The real problem is that these compounds do not kill you right off, they take their time and rob you of your health little by little.  If we keep the word of wisdom (this dietary law), we are promised that we will run and not be weary, walk and not faint.  Walking is good and not fainting is even better.