Mar 29 2009
Follow up on Earth Hour
Last night I participated in Earth Hour, an event in which we turned off our lights for one full hour. No TV, no computers, no lights. What’s amazing to me is that one hour is actually quite a good chunk of time when you don’t have things coming at you fifty miles a minute. Why do I always feel as if there are never enough hours in the day?
It was simple and quiet at my house between 8:30 and 9:30 PM. We had 2 candles lit. My husband usually goes to bed around 8:30 for work, so he and I and our 2 year old all went into our bedroom and laid down. The candle light flickered on the wall and was truly entertaining for our son. “Wow” was all he could say as he tried to “catch” the shadows. I showed him my 3 pretty solid shadow puppets (the goose, the bunny and the bird), but he was more interested in looking at my hands rather than the shadows they created.
After Jesse got restless and hubby was already asleep, we took our candle into Jesse’s room and looked at a few books. While it was nothing like living in “days of old”, I couldn’t help but feel like I was taking a step back into history. Reading books by candle light seemed so magical in a way. The colors of the illustrations were so different than looking at them with our lights on. The flicker of the candle seemed to make the teddy bears on the pages dance. It was whimsical!
I was able to devote my full attention to spending time with our family. I reflected on the blessings God has given me and the human race in general. I think I’ll try to incorporate an “Earth Hour” every week in my home. My husband thought it would be great to eat our dinner every night by candle light and just focus on each other. I have to say, I love the idea!
Yes, electricity and all of our gadgets can distract us from what’s really important. I think that’s why I like the occasional camping trip.
I love camping, but don’t do it near as often as I’d like…there’s just something about those s’mores!