Journeys 1-29-12 Dropped the IPad!

Accidents happen. Thats easy to say, and hard to live by.

This past week, I dropped my IPad. I’d already dropped it a couple minor times, but the case had protected it from any major damage. Not this time. I was loading stuff into the trunk of my car and it slipped out of my arms and hit the pavement on its corner. When I picked it up and opened the case there were spider-web cracks across the glass face.

It still works. But I almost cried. I immediately started trying to cheer myself up. I used every deep breathing, Centering Prayer, Zen focusing tool I knew. It didn’t help. Sad and mad were meeting pity and taking up residence in my chest right there where I sat in the drivers seat of my car.

I was never very good at teaching my children “not to cry over spilled milk!” Cause I was usually the one jumping up and screaming, “NOOOO!!!” Then we’d be down on our knees mopping it up or dabbing it off the carpet as fast as we could; working our way up the legs of the chair to the legs and body of the baby. Spilled milk made everyone cry when my kids were little.

Since I got it in May, I’ve really loved my IPad. I was always the kid who had 3-4 books in a bag with him at all times, (O.K., as an adult too). Now I can have all my books in my IPad along with newspapers and magazines. It’s a reader’s dream. No more need for a night light, the white screen glows behind the words! I haven’t printed up a sermon or wedding or funeral service since May. Its all on the IPad. On Sundays, with three services in two places, I only have to remember to grab my IPad instead of a Bible, maybe a hymnal and a pile of papers and notes. Now I only forget my water bottle from time to time (O.K., I forget my jacket and hat and reading glasses too).

So in the end, I’ve still got a usable IPad. It just doesn’t look so shiny and new any more. It looks kind of bruised and broken. But it works. I know my Zen Buddhist brothers and sisters would want me to remember that the past is perfect. But I’m still going to mentally obsess over all the things I could have done to not drop my IPad for the next month or so. Or, until my mind lets my soul know that it’s time to get over it and move on to more important things, like where I left my cell phone (I just had it).

Grace & Peace,