The Break In

I suppose it's part of living in the vale of tears that you occasionally get burglarized, right?  I guess it was our turn. It was a week ago yesterday that thieves opened the unlocked front window of the house and walked in. 

They took the one-week-old 47" TV (it was too big anyway), two laptops and my wife's Christmas present - a spunky pink Dell Netbook.  Also, both of our wedding bands and some cash.

Everyone is so sorry.  I've heard it several times. But I would almost have paid someone to steal the Xbox, which is also gone.  The silence around here since its disappearance has been golden.  Of course, one of my kids who most cherished the Xbox has been wandering around dazzed, lost, incredulous, mournful as Mozart's Lacrymosa.  My daughter, on the other hand, asked me to please not replace it.  So its three against three.

So, friends.  Possessions.  What about them?

There is this scene in C. S. Lewis' Perelandra, in which the devil (Ransom) is tempting Eve with a lovely coat or shawl of some sort.  She admits it is lovely, and agrees with him over its great workmanship.  He gives it to her to hold, and after a moment of enjoying it, she drops it on the ground and wanders over to smell a flower.  Surprised, Ransom picks it up and runs after her.  Here, you can have it, he says.  She responds that she doesn't really understand what he means.  You know, keep it, hold it, to enjoy again later.  She replies with a laugh, why would I want to do that?

Aside from the Xbox, the absence of which has been like a tree of life in our midst, or more apropos, like a successful polyp removal, the stuff we enjoyed was just stuff. I almost dont remember it now. We pulled our old TV out of the garage and set it up again. I got out my old laptop gathering dust in the closet since the new one arrived last year, and here I am typing on it.

The only thing we really miss is the writings and papers that cannot be recovered. The wedding bands and a few other personal items of little worth pinched.  Both bands have Ephesians 5:25-27 inscribed in them, so I hope the Holy Ghost will haunt anyone who tries to buy them from whatever pawn show they end up in.

But the shock of having the house ransacked has passed (we gave it a good tidying up after that), and the stuff was really...forgettable.  I can't speak for the rest of my family though.