Graceline: His light shines in the darkness

Monday night. 8:02 p.m. That’s the night the lights went out on Thorncliff Drive.

I was plugging in a new receiver for our satellite TV when darkness flooded the bedroom. I thought I had triggered a breaker. Upon further inspection, the whole house, neighborhood and as far as you could see, or not see, was totally dark.

Wanda called from the den, “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything. Someone must have hit a transformer.”

We were both a little disturbed, aggravated and agitated. My first thought was I was going to miss the season finale of my favorite TV show. My second thought was finding the flashlight. To complicate matters, we had Christmas decorations all over the floor in the den. I opined that now was not a good time to have all those decorations underfoot. Wanda chided back that she didn’t know the power was going off. We were a little out of sorts.

Gathering my wits and assessing the situation, and having found our one and only flashlight, we began gathering candles. After finding a few candles, we had to search for matches. We found an old book of matches with only two left. Wanda burned her finger lighting one and now we were down to our last match.

By God’s grace, we got two candles lit. We lit several others and placed them around the house. The soft glow of the small flames made the house feel soft and warm. We could have enjoyed the moment had we not been so stressed out.

I asked Wanda if she wanted to ride with me to see how far the outage extended. She hesitantly agreed while gathering up Gracie and Marley to ride with us. During the ride, the wild imaginings invaded Wanda’s mind.

“What if this is a cyber attack by terrorists? We don’t even have a gun when they break down the door. What would you do if they broke into the house?”

“Well, honey, I would attack them as soon as they got into the house. They would have to kill me first.”

“Boy that makes me feel better. They kill you first. You should get us a gun. You should do this ... ” and she was off.

I said, “Sweetheart, are you afraid? Your tongue and tone gets a bit sharp when you are scared and things are out of control. You don’t have to take it out on me. I didn’t put us in the dark.”

“Yes, I’m a little afraid,” she conceded.

“This is out of our control. If Jesus can’t handle this, then we are in trouble from the get-go. We will get through this, and the lights will be back on shortly.”

Having ascertained the outage was not worldwide, we returned home. By sheer force of habit, I flipped the light switches as I went from room to room, but nothing happened. Wanda reminded me our house is equipped with a generator, which we have never used. There is a breaker box that controls it out in the garage. We flipped the switch, and of course, nothing happened. Then the fear and the squeaky voice descended upon Wanda once again.

“Why don’t we know how to turn this thing on? Call Sam and get him over here to show you how this generator thing works. Tomorrow, I’m going to buy three more flashlights. Then we have to get a gun,” and on she went.

Fear is all about control. Not being in control causes us to feel fearful. Nobody likes the way fear makes you feel. Ironically, we think if we can control the people and circumstances in our lives then we won’t be afraid. Control is a delusion. We have about as much control over other people and what happens to us as a leaf in a tornado.

You have control of one thing and one thing only in your life, and that is what you choose to think. Your thoughts determine how you feel. Truth leaves you feeling at peace. Lies leave you feeling fearful.

Truth is a person. His name is Jesus. Trust Jesus, and He will be your peace. Trust in your ability to control your life, and you will live in fear which is False Evidence Appearing Real.

At 9:32 p.m., the lights came back on. Our souls settled down because we felt we were back “in control.” The flesh will lie to you like that. It will make you feel as if you have power and control, but it leaves you high and dry when the rubber hits the road and all your resources are inadequate for the chaos you are facing. Nevertheless, God did enlighten me during that hour and a half in the dark.

He reminded me of how very much we take for granted. Light, warmth, shelter, food, drink, clothing, protection, security, freedom. The Lord reminded me a consistent “attitude of gratitude” for the blessings of life will dispel ungratefulness and discontentment and replace it with joy.

He reminded me I have blessings I overlook because I am so blessed in every area of my life. After the lights came on, I went into the kitchen to make a sandwich. Not long ago, we installed a half dozen little battery operated dome lights underneath the kitchen cabinets. I use them all the time because I don’t like the bright lights of the kitchen, especially when I’m getting ready to go to bed. I reached under the cabinet, pressed the dome, and voila, light. All I had to do when the lights went out was to use those little blessings I had forgotten about.

He reminded me of what Wanda and I used to do when the lights went out when we were first married. We were blessed, not stressed, because we saw it as an opportunity to snuggle up and enjoy a moment of intimacy with nothing else to do. He asked me why we had allowed the blessings to steal away intimacy, which should be far richer now than it was 30 years ago.

He reminded me nothing would happen to me to separate me from His love. “Nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable – absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.” Romans 8:38-39 MSG.

He reminded me He is Light, and in Him, there is no darkness. He knows where I am and what I need at all times, day or night, light or dark.

Then I said to myself, “Oh, He even sees me in the dark. At night I’m immersed in the light. It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.” Psalm 139:11-12 MSG.

Yes, I missed my TV show, but I wouldn’t trade it for the Light He gave me in the darkness. Today, there is a smile on my face, a spring in my step, and a renewed joy in my heart all because the lights went out on Thorncliff Drive. There is a new sparkle in my eye as I see my bride in a new light. We have squandered far too many minutes on the mundane routine of life. I have a new commitment to squeeze every ounce of joy out of every minute He gives me. I don’t plan to take the people I love and things I enjoy for granted. I plan to express my appreciation to others who have blessed my life with more frequency and fervor than ever before.

Let me begin with you. Thanks for listening. And always remember, don’t doubt in the darkness what God has shown you in the light.

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 1:05 PM with the headline "Graceline: His light shines in the darkness."