Monday, February 2, 2009

Earthquakes, Real and Imagined

Early last Friday morning, as I sat reading my devotions, my house started making some rumbling noises. First, I thought that my husband was getting up a bit earlier than he had planned. Then I realized that, even on his most energetic mornings, he doesn't make that much noise. And then the shaking started...and fortunately, stopped.

An earthquake? I thought so. I turned on the news to see if it was real or if I had just imagined the noise and shaking. After about ten minutes, the news finally reported that we had just had an earthquake. I knew it! Fortunately, no injuries or damages were reported.

The next morning as my husband and I sat drinking our coffee and watching the latest home improvement show, the house started to shake again. Immediately, my husband called up the stairs to our daughter who was visiting, asking if she was okay. She stepped out into the hall with wide eyes as we ascertained that we had just had another earthquake! That made two in two days! A bit unsettling to say the least.

Then, not five minutes later, things started shaking again...this at just about the same time that I realized that my quirky washing machine was trying to spin dry a load of sheets and blankets.

Okay, so maybe there was really only one earthquake! The other two were overreactions to something that seemed like the real thing. Our minds were already set in the earthquake mode so a little bit of rocking and rolling in the laundry room was enough to nearly convince us that we were all gonna die!

We got some good laughs out of that one! But I've been thinking that sometimes I do the same sort of thing in other areas of my life. Something difficult happens. Then something else happens. And before you know it, my life is crashing down around me...at least that is how I perceive it. It's not usually the case. In fact, it rarely is the case. So maybe the next time life seems to be crashing down around me, I should take a couple of deep breaths and go hang out in my laundry room for a few minutes.

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