The Morning Of Enlightenment

My cell phone rang at 1:30 yesterday...1:30 a.m.

For most folks that would be an annoyance...for me it was a signal of panic. It meant I had overslept somehow. The caller was only a few feet away upstairs...Erin. The power was out in the house and Erin wanted to make certain I was up.

I have two alarm clocks...both are supposed to have battery back ups (apparently you have to change those batteries by the way). It was no major crisis. Mercifully the one day the power failed was the day Erin was staying up because I was giving her a ride to the airport on my way to the office. So I stumbled around in the dark trying to get ready for work.

We have an emergency flashlight in the house, but not in the bedroom and I had already overslept. I figured I could shower and get dressed in the dark without too much difficulty. That proved harder than I imagined - I literally couldn't see anything. Then I remembered my cell phone. I kept punching buttons on the phone to get it to emit enough light to find my toothbrush, locate shoes, and be relatively certain I was wearing matching socks.

Evidently Erin packed by the light of tiny tea candles.

We made it out of the house without any additional problems and I dropped Erin at the airport before going into work.

As I write this morning (yes, I consider 1: 50 a.m morning) the house is comparatively ablaze in light. There are lights on in several rooms, something for which I'm grateful...I haven't banged my shins on anything yet today and I've been up for an hour.

I'm also thankful though to realize often times we can get by with a lot less than we suspect.

Additionally it's perhaps a good reminder that when we allow only a small sliver of our light to shine it can be quite illuminating.


Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. - Psalm 119:105