LOST AT HOME

It's ll:30 pm and I have finally completed vacuuming and shifting some furniture around to make things easier for the carpet cleaner coming for his first morning job. I've moved my night stand with the "touch lamp" around to the other side of the bed. The cord has an extra little switch half way down the line and I can switch the light off that way. On second thought to prevent possible confusion it seemed better to avoid leaving that extra switch turned on because it doesn't always work and might create a problem so I pull the plug. It's getting late so after a quiet moment I decide to make a final trip to the bathroom. It is now necessary to walk around the foot of the bed. The touch lamp doesn't come on because it's unplugged. Now where is that outlet to plug the cord back in. Even if I can find the outlet - it's too dark to locate the wide safe side of it. Guess I can find my way around with "furniture feel." But now everything seems out of place. I find my way past the dresser but after that all I can locate in the dark are door knobs and walls. The bathtub in the insuite has turned into a wall. The double sinks have disappeared. It doesn't dawn on me that I'm in the wrong bathroom.

I try to turn back but only find a long hallway leading to nowhere. Familiar items on counter tops and all the light switches are hiding somewhere. I do not realize I am now in the other smaller bath where the bath tub is located against the back wall. There is nothing but walls where the insuite bath tub should be. What if the fire bells should ring - how would I get out of this place? At ll:45 pm the night before the fire alarm bell had given a short alarm and immediately all doors in the common hall opened with one or two faces in the door frame checking for the fire location. A male voice from the lobby announced it was a false alarm so all doors had closed again. The next ringing bell could be a real fire tonight and I cannot find the exit.

My eyes try to strain through the darkness but only raggy forms appear that keep reshaping themselves and lead to nothing but walls as more mysterious shadows rise and fall to form again with each step I take. When trying to reach for a phone or other solid object I almost take a tumble. With the moon shrouded with cloud and no sliver of light anywhere, how can these shadows form their ominous shapes as I search for light. I'll have to save that question for Bob McDonald's science program. If I could have returned to my night stand that I just left, the flashlight would be right in its special drawer. I feel helpless. Then Psalm ninety one leaps to mind from its virtual page, "I will send my angels to take charge over you." I then recall the words of the editor of Venture Inward, "Why worry when you can pray." A door frame comes to hand and I go through it, the tuning wheel of the kitchen radio reaches for me. My other hand finds a metal door beneath it - this must be the dishwasher, then the sink is next in line. I feel for the coils of the stove's heating burners and reach up for the switches of the stove light and fan - a welcoming light floods the kitchen. I had been touring the hall back and forth during this confusion, chasing fear forms that were teasing me, and light was just around the corner. The moral of this story is to have a night light switched on in one of the rooms near the bedroom. And later on when our Earth journey is complete, remember that a dazzling light is just around the corner.