“I just saw about the flash floods in Milwaukee! Hope you are all OK!” a friend texted me this past Monday. She lives in North Carolina and had heard about the rain and flooding this past weekend. Having experienced the devastation of Hurricane Helene, she is especially tuned into news about storms and flooding.
We did get water in our basement. But it is unfinished, and we generally just use it for storage. We learned the hard way when we moved into our house 10 years ago that we have a “wet basement.” Everything we had set up in the fall of 2014 as extra play space in our basement for our then young boys was ruined by the spring rains of 2015. We had to toss it all out.
Now we put everything up on storage shelves and have foam mats on the ground that can be picked up and cleaned if they get wet or dirty.
But over the years with water only trickling into the basement once a year with the early spring rains, we became a little careless about where we put things in the basement. We told ourselves we would work on organizing the space next weekend, or in two weeks, maybe by the end of the month. But it never happened.
“I hope you didn’t lose anything that was irreplaceable,” my friend texted.
What began as feelings of frustration and annoyance of having to spend hours sorting and cleaning turned into a more joyful day of family time. Both of our sons were home so the four of us worked together to clear out and clean up our basement. We shared memories about the items we were hauling out and we discussed plans and dreams for the future. We spent an unplanned day together.
In our consumer culture where accumulation of possessions and wealth are prioritized, we often need reminders that these “things” are certainly replaceable. Instead, it is our relationships, our community, our human connections that need our focus and prioritization. And ultimately, it is our unity as and love for God’s people that is at the core of our connections.
No, we didn’t lose anything irreplaceable from the water in our basement. Rather, we gained a memorable time together. What is irreplaceable are our relationships with one another.
Peace,
Pastor Beth
