Getting Used to the Dark

As a result of some very strong storms yesterday, our entire neighborhood was without power until about 9:15 last night. Typically, I enjoy a good power outage. It's comparable to a snow day in that it gives us a barrage of wonderful excuses to sit around and do nothing. I am admittedly and unashamedly a huge fan of valid excuses!

However, this time was different. This time I have a 2 year old. Below I have listed 5 practical things that I learned from my first power outage with Abby:

1. Candles provide soft light, and have a mellowing effect in almost any environment. This is not true when a 2 year old is present.
2. Small children have difficulty coming to terms with the fact that you can't watch Veggie Tales on dvd on the television during a power outage, and will let you and your neighbors know how they feel about the situation.
3. Don't lose the lighter/ matches in a dark house! A flashlight only allows you to search an area of about 6 inches in diameter at a time, and you don't have time for that when your 2 year old is in the other room with lit candles. (Refer back to #1)
4. If you have a laptop, keep it charged at all times! As it turns out, you can watch Veggie Tales on a laptop during a blackout! :)
   
5. Don't make fun of your paranoid husband for strategically placing flashlights and batteries all over the house in case of an emergency. There could be a power outage, and you will have to eat your words.

In addition to the practical lessons that I learned. I had a lot of time to allow my mind to drift to the more spiritual applications that can be drawn from such an experience. Here are just a few:

1. Light becomes much brighter in a dark place. During the outage, I kept the curtains open to allow the last bit of daylight to come into the house. Once darkness fell, I noticed that every headlight, flashlight, outdoor fire caught my eye. This reminded me of something that one of my professors told me in college: "When you're in possession of the only light in a very dark place, everything will come looking for you. You are the most visible, and you will be covered up by the darkness if you don't guard that light." As Christians, we have to guard our light. The light of Christ will attract the good and the bad, and we must be mindful to always protect that light.
2. It's easy to lose things in the dark. Yes, this was a practical lesson, but it was also a reminder of how easy it can be to lose sight of things when we don't have enough light in our lives. Living in the dark is hard. There are always things in our path to trip over, not to mention all of the mental notes that we have to make to keep track of the essentials. In the light there are still things to trip over, and we can still lose things, but at least we can see what it is that is tripping us up, and it's a lot easier to find the things that we have misplaced. The light of Christ does not make things easy, just easier.
3. There are a lot of limitations in the dark. During the power outage, we were so limited in what we could do! This reminds me of my life before Christ. I was so bound by sin and shame that I felt that I couldn't do anything of value...so I didn't. Since meeting Jesus, my life has become a series of milestones and accomplishments, and I look forward to everything else that He has in store for me. My milestones and accomplishments will never be regarded as great in our culture, and very few of them even made the community section of the local paper, but I know that each one is a testament to the faithfulness of God. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." -Phillipians 4:13