CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON -- The Moral of the Story

“We are the wire, God is the current. Our only power is to let the

current pass through us.”

-- Carol Carretto

I was so shocked that I gasped. I told my husband Jon what I saw, and

he gasped too. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. I was

expecting a change, but not one that was so radical. Especially since I

was doing my best in every way I knew how.

I received our electricity bill last week. Sure, I’m up to date on the

power crisis. I’ve read about it, I’ve heard about it and I’ve endured

minor inconveniences because of traffic signals on rolling siestas.

Though we’ve never been electricity gluttons, we’ve made some changes and

done what we can to keep our electricity use to a minimum.

Before I actually told Jon the amount, I asked him to guess what it

was, and it took several rounds of, “No, guess higher” before he was

close to the actual number.

“Wow, imagine what the bill would be if we actually used much

electricity,” he said.

I’m not too sure how many more changes we can make around our house

without becoming neurotic. I talked about this with a friend of mine

named Guy, and he said they were stumbling around in the dark at their

house as well. He jokingly said that he gave his wife a headlamp as a

present so she’d be able to see at all times of day or night.

It’s clear from my electric bill that a significant quantity of my day

to day life is dependent on electrical power. The quality of my days

however, is clearly dependent on the power of God.

It’s funny how things change with the times. It wasn’t long ago that

people tossed the word “power” around as freely as they do today, but

then it usually referred to something positive.

You could start the day with a power bar and a power smoothie and go

for a power walk. Next you could study some power tips on your PowerBook

computer, and power up for your power lunch by preparing “power point”

presentations. In the afternoon, you could have power talks while wearing

power suits. I’ve even heard of power naps, though I’m not exactly sure

what that means or how relaxing they would be.

We lived as though we had an endless power supply. But that was then

and this is now. Now we’re told we have a power crisis. Now we have to

power up for power shortages. Now our headlines and conversations are

filled with talk about power hogs, power blackouts, power outages,

short-circuits and rewiring.

I’ve learned that the more electrical power I use, the more I am

charged. But the better lesson is that the more I am plugged in to God’s

power, the more I am recharged and renewed. I’m so thankful that there is

a God who never has and who never will have a power crisis.

And you can quote me on that.

* CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON is a Newport Beach resident who speaks

frequently to parenting groups. She may be reached via e-mail at o7

cindy@onthegrow.comf7 or through the mail at P.O. Box 6140-No. 505,

Newport Beach, CA 92658.