Fire

It has been an interesting week around here.  I live by the North Saskatchewan River, it is actually right in front of my house.  It is just beautiful here, we love where we live.  It can get a bit cold in the winter but it is beautiful.

On Monday we had a bit of a scare.A forest fire.  It has now been discovered that it started in a garage, which spread to the house and then started the forest on fire.  They have been battling the blaze for days but I believe they may have it out now.  They are just watching for flare ups.

But this fire started right behind the school where my daughters go.  We picked them up from school because they thought they would be evacuated soon.

The girls had never seen anything like it.  We live across the highway and south of where this was all taking place.  Many families were evacuated from their homes with little to no notice.  The wind was awful and the firefighters worked hard and not another home was destroyed.

But it was an uneasy feeling, all day we could hear planes flying over to get water from the river and sirens lots of sirens.  As I laid in bed trying to fall asleep that night all I could smell was smoke.  It was an uncomfortable night of trying to sleep and wondering if the wind had changed directions and the fire was headed in our direction.

The next day I wondered through my home pondering what I would take with me if I had a moments notice.  Then I began to notice all the stuff that I always wonder what to do with, a fire would help with that situation.  But then I look at the pieces of furniture from my Grandmother.  All the pictures, the office stuff- being a small business owner you need all this paperwork.  What would Revenue Canada say if I say a fire ate my tax info?

It was awkward thinking about all these things, but I also think it was necessary.  It has made me think through many things that I wouldn’t have otherwise.  I can be prepared for such an emergency in the future.  I can know where things are ahead of time and have a mental list of what I need to grab.  I also think it will help when our family goes through a house cleanse this summer.  What is really important?

Worry = Selfishness

I was listening to a talk about worry and then all of a sudden it dawned on me; worry is so selfish. Let me explain my thinking.

Here is a study I found on worry. Studies show that:
40% Never happen
30% Past mistakes and beyond control
12% health concerns that were needless
10% insignificant or petty
8% were actually about something that was significant and
4% of those were out of people’s control.
Conclusion: 96% of worry is irrelevant

So if 96% of worry is irrelevant than why do we spend so much of our valuable time doing it? We worry because we think that situations are not going to turn out the way that we want them to or how we think they should happen. As if we have some control over the situation.

How funny is that? I am scared to think about all the time I have wasted worrying about things that didn’t turn out the way I wanted them to. I have much better things to do with my time!

So tell yourself today that there is no need to worry, you can’t control it anyway. Just give it to God and go on with the more important things in your day. Go and kiss your husband, hug your children, go have coffee with a friend. Your time is more valuable than spending it on irrelevant worry!