It's a New Day/MANN

All my emails disappeared from my INBOX last week. One minute I was reading the names of newly arrived messages and the next minute, the screen was empty. At first I couldn’t believe my eyes. In panic, I tried to remember the previous steps I’d taken to possibly erase them, but the more anxious I grew, the more I couldn’t remember.


Losing emails might not be disastrous for some people. I have friends who daily clean up their INBOX, but not me. I’ve never learned how to achieve that. Every couple of months I’ll glibly go through and delete the repetitive ones, but for the most part I treasure those emails . . . and often review them . . . almost 1000 of them. Yes, you read right. No excuse, I know. Surely I could get them down to a dull roar, you might say. “Yes, I agree with you, but—”

This happened the morning I was to go to Meaford to receive Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Award and I admit to being excited. I left my computer running on my desk as if to say, “You better find those emails before I get home.” Needless to say, that didn’t happen. Over the next couple of days, I didn’t have time to try and figure out how to recapture them. I was sure they were out there in cyberspace somewhere as the error message kept asking me to organize my emails. I said, “What, just thirty emails? That’s a bit of a joke.” But, that constant reminder was a gift because it told me that there was more to all of this that I knew.

I often think these kinds of situations happen in my faith life. Every once in a while, when life is exciting, wholesome and interesting, something happens to tip the cart. I wonder where God is or if I’ve moved too far off the radar screen for God to find me. But, then subtle reminders that appear when least expected, “You are loved . . . I am here . . . Try this . . . Enjoy . . . “ tell me there is more to all of life than what I see. Opportunities that may have slipped from my grip, yet shift in the sidelines of my life linger to be grasped. Options that I may have missed, but remain behind the scenes wait for reconsideration. Decisions that I may not have had the courage to make, hang like ripened grapes ready for picking. Not all is lost—there is always hope. Where is the remnant? It might just be enough to get back in step.

The good news is while attempting to set up a new email account on the Playbook to communicate with the family while on vacation, an annoying message kept asking me for a password. “Okay, try that and be quiet.” Yes, you guessed it, all 996 emails appeared all in order across the screen. So, before I leave, I will clean my INBOX. It’s a new day!

Blessings,
Donna

http://www.donnamann.org