Laptop computer has become this hermit's main mode of what little communication occurs. Written words, however, have great impact-- words and thoughts both written and received.
This nothing consecrated Catholic Hermit's laptop charger begain to fail a few weeks ago. The other evening it seemed to have burned out. None of the tricks that resuscitated it prior, brought the charge back to life.
My window to the world was closed and shuttered. A cell phone call to AppleCare service rep provided an appointment in the hectic commercial buildings and people of civilization. Before I could drive to the Apple Store, I had to off-load another cubic yard of black bark mulch from the pick up truck and wheelbarrow where the mulch needed to be dumped and spread.
Took a chunk of six hours of manual labor with back pain breaks, off and on. The body was in amazingly energized mode that day, and the next morning I finished the last four wheelbarrows full of mulch.
When ever there is a needed trip into civilization, the hermit organizes whatever else might be accomplished. So first went to lumberyard for half-inch plywood, 10' length, cut on their huge plane saw to the dimensions needed for hermitage bathroom countertop base. Also I purchased two pieces of other lumber, enough to construct a door jam for cellar door and opening and a length of board for exterior trim above the French door, installed back in November. Weather is finally suitable for outdoor work!
Praise God for that temporal detail, among many!
Then there was a stop to shovel some free compost into the bed of truck that was not taken up by lumber purchase, then to Apple Store to get the new battery charger, then a stop at Lowes to return a product not all that effective and to pick up a needed supply for continuing lawn efforts. Next was a stop to get whatever bargain fruit and vegetables at a small market--33-cents per pound just because a scratch or dent in the produce. Hermits tend to be frugle. Built-in trait or learned modality? I think instinctual.
Then picked up some confectionary supplies to have on hand for Fortitude Fudge making.
It seemed quite a trip but all temporal details were accomplished. I marveled at how the busy mall no longer affects me as it had a couple years ago. In fact, ever since the death of my will three weeks ago this morning, increasingly the altered reactions are noted and appreciated.
Thanks be to God! It is all for the better!
And I am praising God this morning that the computer window to the world is once again open and charging with electrical power. But it was a fascinating couple of days to be in Internet darkness and shut-down.
I wonder how it will be for us when our bodies are no longer inhabited by our souls, and we no longer require what has now become in our society a necessary window, an operational window required in most ways to attend to the obligations of our daily responsibilities? The computer is often needed now in bill paying, for example, and for banking, medical advice, and whatever in-person appointments needed to accommodate how the temporal world does its business.
So much of the detail of even a hermit's simplified, hidden life, require for simpler functioning is also charitable to others who prefer and rely on computers in the workaday world: require an operational, functioning computer. For this consecrated Catholic hermit, there is always the Will of God in assessing how much is necessary and what other is excess or superfluous.
I do think that on the other side, in the vastness of eternity beyond this temporal world, such a detail as a computer or cell phone will not at all be missed. Perhaps at some point, even in this life, we might some day be capable of our souls being far more adept windows of communication than what is fathomable to us, now.
With the death of our wills and next the replacement of our intellects with God's Mind, the capacity for the soul to be the window, open to His insights and wisdom, is a worthwhile hope and prayer.
God bless His Real Presence in us!
No comments:
Post a Comment