At the beginning of what could be a very long list, I started jotting down things with which I have a love/hate relationship. (Steve suggested himself, but I’m saving him for the category “Things I love but they sure are a lot of trouble.” Different post.)
The top of my list is surely cars. Over the years, we’ve had some doozies. We even got a letter from AAA once, telling us that we needed to maintain our cars better rather than calling them so much! We were doing that, but some connection to the battery was bad and it didn’t recharge as it should have. We finally worked that out.
But we still buy used cars and drive them till they’re either ten years old or have 200,000 miles. Works for us. And then an old post is about our third car…
And I’ve had wrecks—everything from knocking off the right side mirror to totaling my favorite car ever. No need to go into that here. I may do a series of blog posts on “Cars I Have Known—and Damaged.” But they are so wonderful when they work properly!
Next is computers. Love ‘em, hate ‘em. Just like cars, they are marvelous when they work as expected, but they do not always cooperate. I hate it that they become obsolete and have to be replaced so often. I want to buy things that last, such as our refrigerator that we bought used and kept for 20 more years.
But how great computers are compared to those typewriters I started with, using black ribbons and correction tape and carbon sheets. I love sending the Print command and immediately getting my “typed” copy, pristinely presented. And then if I see an error, I simply correct it and print it again. Voila! Fabulous!
Others on my list are, alphabetically, alarm clocks, cell phones, certain church activities, copy machines, emergency vehicles, rain, the internet, and yard work.
The other biggie on my list is control. I love being in control of a situation. I hate it when I feel no one is in charge and someone needs to take over. Often I take control, for better or for worse.
When our house has been messed up lately due to painting or refinishing floors, I definitely was not in control. I did what I could, but much was out of my control. I like a peaceful atmosphere, and cupboards and kitchen table and chairs in the living room do not contribute to that.
I think that about my life, too. I’d love for my prayer list to be a to-do list for God. That would be great—I could give it to him, fairy godmother-style—and all those prayers would be answered just as I request. But life isn’t that way. I have no control over God or many life events.
All I can do is turn that control over to him and accept his decisions. I can pray more for Holy Spirit guidance and depend less on my own self. Giving that control to the Great Controller is my best bet for peace and calm in my life.
Then maybe I can mark “control” off my love/hate list.
What’s on your love/hate list?
Melissa
Oh, Lanita, you’ve had me laughing out loud! And, surely at a time when I needed to :0
The car stories are hilarious. Do you know that my mom told me the *exact same* AAA story a few hours ago, that also happened to them?! Well, one mechanic at the place I go to offers me candy. From his own personal ziplock bag (and I accept). I do feel like I’m getting to know them…
Hehehehe I relate to just about all of the rest of this, although I really had very little experience using typewriters!
Great wisdom on the control front, of course.
Lanita Boyd
Melissa, I wish I’d had enough of a word allowance to include all the repair bill angst and getting stranded by the roadside. At my age, I have lots of bad car experience stories!