Nov
8
2019
Seeing When The Power Went Out
Posted in Faith 2 Comments
The lights went out.
There was no way of knowing the reason for the power outage.
I was in the basement when we lost power.
I was in the unfinished part, putting some things in the freezer.
Everything went pitch black.
Thankfully, I knew where to walk.
I knew where the door was to the finished part of our basement.
I knew where the steps were that would bring me back upstairs.
I had just sat down to have a cup of tea late in the afternoon.
I had a candle burning in the kitchen.
The candle gave a bit of light.
I got one of our lanterns, that my husband bought specifically for power outages.
The lantern would give me light to read by.
I had my stack of books next to my chair but I chose to read my Bible.
I was the only one in the house.
I read aloud from the book of Psalms.
There was something precious about speaking the Word of God in the dark.
I thought of all the people who are truly in the dark because they have not heard.
The Word of God illuminates our path.
The littlest light pushes back the darkness.
As I looked out the windows in my family room, I saw the silhouette of the trees.
If only I was a painter.
The perfect outline of the trees was visible against the darkening sky.
The colors of the sky were ones that only God could create.
It was exquisite.
It was a piece of art.
I clearly saw the outline of the trees that are usually covered by leaves.
The bare outline had been hidden under colorful splashes of leaves.
Each season has its own beauty.
The starkness of fall and winter is actually quite beautiful.
It is the beauty of simplicity.
It is the peacefulness of a minimal landscape.
Winter silhouette were words I spoke into my phone a few weeks ago.
I often do that when I walk.
Ideas come to me.
I need to put them somewhere until I can figure out what they mean.
Winter silhouette made no sense to me at the time.
It wasn’t even winter.
It was early morning when I was walking.
With no power inside, and the colorful sky outside, I understood.
The winter silhouette is the blank canvas on which God the Creator paints His masterpiece.
It is the first few lines of creative beauty He drew when He created the world.
Only those with eyes to see beyond the starkness can see the beauty.
The beauty that lies underneath the surface.
There is beauty in simple lines.
There is beauty when things are devoid of color.
There is beauty in the simple shape of things.
There is beauty as the silhouette is highlighted against the backdrop of the night sky.
I came upon a short essay that Sally Lloyd Jones wrote about Autumn.
Sally Lloyd Jones is the writer of the wonderful, Jesus Storybook Bible.
I had tucked Sally’s words in my heart without realizing it.
I searched for the essay and read it again.
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Did you know that leaves aren’t really green? They only seem that way. Each leaf contains chlorophyll–the green color that captures light and turns it into food for the tree. It’s this green that hides the leaf’s true color. In the autumn, trees produce less chlorophyll, the green fades, and so the leaves show their true colors– blazing reds, yellows, golds!
The leaves were always those brilliant colors– we just couldn’t see them.
And the Bible says you can’t see all you really are either.
But one day, when God mends his broken world once and for all, you’ll be all he made you to be– and then your true colors will come shining through.
(Sally Lloyd Jones, from Thoughts To Make Your Heart Sing)
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Winter silhouette, that I spoke into my phone, and Sally’s words complimented each other.
The stark outline of the trees against the colors of dusk astounded me.
The light of the candle pushed back the darkness in my house during the power outage.
There is beauty in the simplest things.
Sometimes that beauty takes your breath away.
You have to really see in order to really see.
I imagine God the Creator, with His paint brush, outlining the trees in my woods.
I can almost hear God’s excitement as He created everything from nothing.
Just wait.
There is so much more to see.
Won’t they be surprised?
You cannot imagine the beauty that is there, if only you take time to look.
All creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. (Romans 8:19) (NLT)
One day…
I love the thought of you sitting by candlelight speaking God’s word into the darkness. I may do the same the next time we have a power outage! A much better option than fretting about when it will come back on.
Paula,
It was such a sweet time with the Lord.
Gina