I have been feeling a little disconnected. I let things on my daily bullet list siphon away my prayer life and time alone in the Word. My spiritual tank was way past empty, but I couldn't stop going even though I knew that I was burning everything I had down to nothing. Then God, who loves us so, used a seemlingly unrelated event to open my eyes to the cavern I had wandered into, shining a light on the way back to the sun.
This past weekend the power went out in my area for several hours. My 3 year old granddaughter was staying over night so when she woke up, we got up and I made a fire in the fireplace. We read stories, went for a long walk, and made an adventure out of making grilled cheese sandwiches, and warming cocoa and soup over the fire, all in an effort to keep her happy and occupied. Personally I was going nuts! I cannot tell you how many times I went into the bathroom and flipped the switch. Oh, yeah, that's right. No power. I plugged my cell phone into the charger when it got low only to come back in 30 minutes after remembering that it couldn't charge and took it outside to charge with my car's battery which made that seem to get low. Good grief! I decided to take Elah to lunch in a nearby city that hadn't been affected by the outage, but realized that my hair was all over my head and I couldn't flat iron it. HA! It was freezing outside and my heavy jeans were still in the washing machine from the night before, and on top of that I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wanted some coffee. Frankly, between tending the fire, entertaining a toddler and my lack of caffeine, I was dangerously close to just going out and lying in the middle of the street to wait for some truck to put me out of my misery. LOL. I breathed a thankful sigh when the electricity came back on, accepting that I am obviously a person that has to be plugged in. Girl, I laughed to myself, you are not one who can be living off the grid. The Lord spoke to my heart and said, "No one is."
He presented me with a Heavenly instant replay of my day showing me that living without a connection to God is living without a power source. When we do that we are literally existing off the GRID, without God's Resources, Inspiration and Discipline. Every decision will have to be made using our own wisdom which is questionable. Every action will have to be executed under our own strength which is limited. And all moves will have to be calculated within our own ability and, let's face it, sometimes we are not the sharpest tacks in the box. Here's the thing: apart from God even the simplest tasks will be a challenge to us physically and mentally because we were not made to function in this world outside of our power source. Sure we can manage, but do we want to live each day settling for the make-dos and good enoughs of a mediocre existence knowing somehow deep inside that, as a good friend says, "better is always available?" How much time do we really want to waste standing in the darkness, staring at the power cord, choosing for whatever reason not to plug it in?
You are my lamp, O LORD; the LORD turns my darkness into light. Samuel 22:29
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