Snap, Crackle, and Pop

Posted Feb 3, 05:08 AM by Kay Camenisch

We’ve been conditioned to associate snap, crackle, and pop with a breakfast cereal, but those were outdoor noises last Tuesday. However, they were the noise of devastation, not sounds of anticipation of breakfast. We heard pops as limbs broke off the trees, followed by snaps and crackles as they crashed to the ground. By nightfall, our yard looked like a disaster area.

We must have thirty trees in our yard, and it looks like we’ve been through a war. Whole trees are down and others need to come down because they’ve been ruined by the damage. It will take us weeks to get it all cleaned up.

We were fortunate, we were only without electricity for two days and nights, and we were never without drinkable water. We also had a gas log fireplace insert that kept us warm, a generator that kept the refrigerator and freezer from thawing, and some sandwiches left over from a church function that gave us easy sustenance. Some of our friends will be without electricity for two more weeks. Some people had to boil their water—without electricity—and others had murky, muddy water from the tap.

I’ve learned several things through this storm.

1. We’re spoiled. We think our comforts are due us. We consider it a hardship to be without the internet or to have the temperature or lights a little lower than normal.

2. Maybe we’re not ungrateful for what we have, be I think we are lacking in gratefulness. We take too much for granted. We assume the lights will come on and that the water will be clean to drink. We are accustomed to adjusting the thermostat to fit our comfort zone and calling or emailing our friends when a thought comes to mind. How often are we grateful for those things on a daily basis? Being without electricity, phone, and water builds a deeper gratefulness.

3. We’re much like the trees. During the storm, I watched the devastation closely and noticed that some trees drooped more than others. Three bent way over until the limbs touched the ground. We kept expecting to find them crumpled in a broken heap. However, those were the trees that suffered the least damage. In fact, they lost almost no limbs at all. The trees that failed to bend with the weight suffered more damage. If we stand tall, proud, and independent when under stress, we’re likely to snap. If we humble ourselves—to God and those around—and are flexible, we’re more likely to endure the storms of life with little damage.

I may change my mind by the time our yard is restored to normal, but I think maybe its good for us to have an occasional storm. It builds appreciation for how much we’re blessed.