Survival of the Fittest

I had a unique and somewhat challenging experience yesterday. My parents went out for awhile and left me home alone as is sometimes the case. (Once in a while I enjoy having the house all to myself because I can do my schoolwork without being interrupted, play my music loud, and talk on the phone without being overheard or critiqued.). I was at the computer reading my syllabus and course schedule. The syllabus consists of many pages stapled and I was holding it up in front me so I could read it. But it was getting heavy so I decided to lean it against the phone beside me using the phone as a kind of bookstand. My papers were covering the phone and somebody called. As a result I couldn't see who was calling and so I knocked the papers off with my pencil that I use for typing. In knocking the papers off I knocked the receiver off the hook. I have an At&t speakerphone and the receiver is really heavy for me to lift to put back on the hook. So I panicked, knowing I was without a phone. Therefore, I quickly called my sister on Skype to ask for her advice. She was very helpful in that she told me that if I held down the clicker for a minute, it would enable me to call out (something I didn't know!). We stayed on Skype together until my parents came home. I told her that "I was going to get the receiver back on the hook, no matter what!" I prayed for a burst of energy....the strength to lift it up and get it on the hook again. I worked and I worked and I worked at getting that receiver up and on the hook. Then, with one big burst of strength I picked up the whole receiver (it weighed a ton to me), lifted it up and reached over to put it up on that hook. What a sense of accomplish went through my mind and body at that moment! I felt like I had conquered the world in that one, solarity weightlifting act! How to survive on your own when no one is there to help you - that was my challenge. I had to put my mind to it, to have the determination and the will to do it, and then to pray for the strength I knew I didn't have. Never give up. Persevere. That's the moral of the story.