Adventures in Paradise Volume 2 #30

Kia ora! Our excellent adventure continues with some thoughts on perspective and how I learned a very valuable lesson this week on what is truly most important. This blog is less about New Zealand in particular than it is about what is meaningful in general. It is a lesson that I have been taught before, but a refresher course seemed to be in order as it appears that I still have much to learn on this subject. It’s also possible that I simply needed a little nudge in the memory department.

Before we arrived in New Zealand, I would often check the weather forecast by way of the internet. While I understood the universal symbols for rain and wind, I was perplexed by the temperature listings. I remember one day in particular, when the current Auckland temperature was announced as 16 degrees.  While I realized that there was a difference between our Fahrenheit and their Celsius, I had no real perspective on what 16 degrees would feel like. It was not until I actually physically experienced 16 degrees that I began to gain perspective on what constitutes a hot day and what would constitute a cold winter one. I learned a little jingle to help in shifting that perspective: 30 is hot, 20 is nice, 10 is cold and zero is ice! A bit of first-hand experience can go a long way in securing a modified perspective.

My perspective came crashing down around me when I read an e-mail from my son Travis last Sunday evening. Ward and I had just arrived home to Gisborne, after having spent a lovely weekend in Auckland and Hamilton. We had been privileged to participate in a conference with one our church’s twelve apostles, Elder Quentin L. Cook. It had been a touching, spiritual visit and that coupled by the fact that we had spent time with friends and young missionaries that we hadn’t seen in a while, we were left feeling peaceful and relaxed. That was, until the moment that I opened a message from my son. It read: “Something really weird is going on here.”

It’s difficult not to panic or have ones imagination run rampant when receiving such a message. Due to the time difference between New Zealand and Utah, my panic rose, and I was afraid that I would not be able to reach my son as it would be the middle of the night in Salt Lake. My discomfort was growing as I considered the possibility that I would have to sleep with my mounting anxiety until morning. I was beside myself and the knot that had been forming in my stomach was becoming more uncomfortable by the minute! I had no information on what sort of situation that word “weird” encompassed. Was something wrong with my son, my family or a friend? Had there been an accident? Knowing that it had been unusually windy, I wondered if something had happened related to the weather. Did that one descriptive word imply something earth-shattering or simply something unusual? My brain pistons were firing way too quickly for comfort and I was beyond frightened.

When I finally reached my son, nothing he said was making me feel any more relaxed. He related, with a photo included, that “something” or things had taken up residence in my home. The physical evidence in the photo was stomach wrenching and I began to envision just what permanent damage might have been done. While I was mulling over the possibilities, Travis mentioned that this situation was not even the weird thing that he had alluded to in his message. When he went to turn on the lights to gain greater perspective into our resident squatters, the lights starting humming, then grew dim and finally he noticed the adapter box connected to the downstairs TV was smoking. Having turned off all power to the house, Travis was waiting for his mother, ten thousand miles away, to assess the situation and make a decision on what to do next! To add to the frustration, it was now early Sunday morning in Utah and we would have to wait until Monday to contact the exterminator as well as an electrician. There was real concern that there was the possibility of a fire or that the house would need to be torn apart to facilitate new wiring. I was frustrated by the time frame as well as the distance and consumed by worry about what damage had and was being done to a home that I loved. I was tearful and feeling like my world as I knew it had come crashing down. There was also the concern about making long distant decisions and a real fear that my bank account, such as it was would be depleted. At that moment, I lost perspective, and could not imagine anything that could be worse than losing that home.

In my prayers that evening, I did have the presence of mind not to ask for a safe house. Rather I prayed for peace and a calm perspective. I was grateful that two people that I trusted would be helping me to solve the problems. Having just prayed for peace and a calm demeanor, I still found myself falling to sleep amid dreams of impending disaster. I was still concerned about the permanent damage that might have been caused by our invading house guests. I worried that either the house would burn down (which would actually have solved the critter problem) or that being in need of rewiring, my home would have to be torn apart. I closed my eyes that evening, accompanied by dreams of what could happen in the worst case.

The next morning upon awaking and becoming fully aware, I was struck by how peaceful I felt. It was not necessarily an everything will be okay with the house feeling, rather it was a distinct answer to the last question of the evening before. I realized that a worst case situation would not involve the loss of my home; rather it would involve the loss of people that I love who had been a part of that house. It would involve the loss of my faith and the loss of my direction. I realized with clarity that I would be able to accept and handle any problem relating to brick and mortar, but I would not be able to accept the loss of those people and principles that are the structure of my life. Putting everything into perspective, I realized that I could weather the loss of a building, but not a loss of those things that my life is built upon.

So, almost as a postscript, I will thank my friend and neighbor Jeannette Flamming for calling the exterminator. Thank you, Jeannette, for handling guests who entered my house uninvited through my dryer vent. Knowing that you are always there caretaking is a huge blessing for me. Thanks to my son, Travis, who turned off all of the power until an electrician could arrive. He had his own set of nightmares concerning his “inheritance” going up in smoke and I am sorry for his lost sleep. I was able to communicate with him instantly during the electricians visit, so we shared a giant sigh of relief when we were collectively informed that squirrels had eaten their way through an external neutral wire, thus causing the internal electrical problems. Thanks to Rocky Mountain Power for coming so quickly to replace that wire. Shakespeare said that alls well that ends well and I will agree with that! Once again, I have been reminded to keep things in perspective. You can’t take it with you, but relationships can last forever.

As always we are happy and trying to work hard. We weren’t given a new perspective, we just need slight readjustments to our old one. We are grateful for the lessons that we have been taught this week and are so thankful that all of you are part of that slightly revamped perspective. We value the relationships that we have with you and should you need a good exterminator or a superb electrician, we would be happy to share our recommendations with you! And instead of our posting photos this week, please picture in your own minds those experiences and people that you value most from your perspective.

Love, Ward and Susan    Elder and Sister Belliston, serving in Gisborne, New Zealand