Darkness into Light

This morning, we woke up to a dark house. The power had gone off sometime during the night, and as it stays quite dark until about 7:30 am, we had to get ready for school by flashlight. Try putting your contacts in or your makeup on by flashlight and see how fun that is! I thought that surely someone who got up earlier than we did would have called the power company, but when I looked out the window, all my neighbors had their lights on. It seemed to be just our house which was affected.

I found a flashlight, headed to the basement and looked at the breakers. Not being an electrician, I didn't see anything wrong but flipped them all off and back on just in case. Nothing happened. Then I came back upstairs and found the number to the power company. Thank goodness for cell phones, because the land line doesn't work without the power! (just what did we do in this situation before wireless anyway?) They promised to come out and take a look, but in the meantime we had to get everyone off to school.

It's a funny thing when the power goes out. All of a sudden, you realize that everything you need to do is powered by electricity. Can't take a shower, the well pump could run dry. Can't use a blow dryer, although not having taken a shower, you don't need that anyway. The curling iron, forget it. Coffee? Nada. Check the newscast, email, fry an egg, make toast or open a can? Not gonna happen. It seems that we depend on electricity for a lot of things.

Rummaging around in the dark this morning, I thought about how important light is to us. Without light, it is difficult to function. We stumble around. We are basically helpless. Think about how important sunlight is to our survival. Without sunlight in the natural world, we wouldn't be able to survive very long at all. We depend on the light for guidance, warmth, sustenance. Our very existence depends on it.

It is no wonder that Jesus spoke these words written in John, chapter 8, we read in verse 12: "When Jesus spoke to the people again, he said: I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark, but will have the light of life."

Talk about an illuminating passage!

Without Jesus, we will stumble around aimlessly in this world. Without the Light of the World, we are unable to see. If we think that we need electricity to function in this modern world, how much more so do we need the light of Christ? A light that never goes out. This light illuminates our hearts and our minds to the purpose for which we were created. We were not meant to wander without purpose in this life.

In the meanwhile, I struggled with the garage door, trying to get it open the old-fashioned way (not an easy task!) We had a cold breakfast, since all we could make was cereal. We ate in the chilly darkness of the kitchen and then headed out to school.

Sometimes God speaks to us in these little inconveniences of our day. I felt that this morning was one of those times for me. Even as I felt hindered by the lack of light, I was reminded how truly blessed we are when we can take such a routine thing as electricity for granted. How we take a lot of things in this life for granted. Thinking we are in control, thinking we have another day, not even thinking about the things that we think are so common. How often do we reflect on God's goodness each day. Sometimes, it is through experiencing the darkness that we can truly appreciate the Light.