flash light night

this evening ben found a flash light in the garage. not a dinky little plastic one. but a full fledged- could-knock-someone-out-if-used-as-self-defense-metal-flash-light. and it worked. a rare battery miracle. he went from room to room turning off lights and shining his new light all over the house.

and in the dark...while trying to bathe lyle with the occasional help from ben's light, i had several thoughts:

it is dark in haiti tonight.
very dark.
and even before the tragedy of the earthquake tuesday...
it was probably dark in many houses in haiti at night

i have been acutely aware of the excess in my life today. every minute it is glaring at me. everytime i turn around. or turn something on. the food and clothes and beds and warm water. it's everywhere. and i want less of it. less of the stuff. that i spend so much time coveting and cleaning and organizing and throwing away. not just the excess of stuff. but the excess of waste. i can't possibly put it all to good use so i store it or donate it or (please forgive me!) throw it away. like pizza crust. i don't like it and i don' eat it. but really? it's FOOD! and people in haiti need FOOD! (tonight i ate it).

so we prayed tonight that God would open our eyes to what we don't need. and help us to give it to those that do. to create a life with less stuff. and more....light (Jesus).

and we are going to start having flash light nights. with some regularity. where we do not use electricity after the sun goes down. we are going to make dinner, get ready for bed, with the light from our flashlight. and talk to the kids about the reality that many people live with every day

...until the kids go to bed at which time greg and i will turn on all the lights, make a warm dinner and watch tv. just kidding. maybe.

on a side note, ben is now trying to either break his door down or break out of his room....flash light is going to time out.