Lights Out!

Marooned by the storm of a lifetime, we were enjoying a late, sumptuous breakfast in the light and comfort of our warm kitchen, when suddenly we were plunged into darkness! A power outage! How could that be? There had been no ice, and the wind kept most bare surfaces swept clean of the snow that was drifting where it could. A call to the energy company revealed that the power failure was widespread, cause unknown, but they would be on it ASAP.

Things were eerily still. In an instant, the excited weather channel chatter we could hear from the living room television set ceased. The heat radiating from the furnace cooled, the flickering glow from the electric fireplace disappeared, all the lights in the house were suddenly extinguished. What could we do to pass the time? It was too dark to read; there was no computer or internet; even our cell phone would eventually go dead. I couldn’t go back to bed, having been forced from my pillow earlier by the headache that had just begun to subside.

We knew we could put the food on our enclosed back porch to stay cold or frozen, but there would be no hot meals if the electricity was off for very long. My husband began to wash the breakfast dishes, and I wanted to tell him to save the hot water, but I realized it could soon grow cold, anyway. (He said he was just about to vacuum, but how could he now?) Funny, that was usually not a voluntary task!

How do people cope without electricity in modern times, and what did they do when snowbound in earlier times? For one thing, they probably had wood burning fireplaces or stoves. Our son has a set of gas logs in his fireplace, which puts off some heat, but it was too treacherous to get out; anyway, it hadn’t come to that yet.

I was just getting out some candles, even though a watery daylight came in--the glow would be warm and cheerful, at least--when all at once, life returned to the house! Warm, pulsating energy filled the rooms as furnace resumed, television conversations continued, the fireplace flickered, and tiny red lights blinked on appliances as the heartbeat of the house was restored. I quickly plugged in my cell phone to recharge against any other eventualities.

We sent heartfelt praise to God that our inconvenience was short lived, and hopefully, over. A tiny lesson in how quickly things can change, and a reminder of the uncertainty of life. The Bible says in Proverbs 27:1, “Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” How true.