POWER THAN CAN'T BE LOST

We’re presently in the midst of a strange autumn snowstorm, and there’s much TV talk of losing power, which simply makes me think, once again, of the finest kind of power, the kind that can’t ever be lost. If we lose electrical power, my family and I may be making our way through dark and frosty rooms for the next few days, but we’ll always have access to the power that doesn’t depend on transformers and wires and wonderful weather. When it comes to qualities like patience and peacefulness and compassion for others, no storm can stop their powers, and no downed trees can triumph over their ability to bring the best of life to all of us. A home in disagreeably cold darkness is still a home, provided the people in it remember that real power is inside them and thoroughly ready to go to work, with or without electrical power. My hope, over the next few days, is for my family to feel, maybe more fully than usual, the forces of kindness and endurance and even serenity within the dark but warm-hearted rooms of our home.