Last night I was sitting at my kitchen table hanging out with my family after dinner. Although I was physically present, I was only half-listening to the conversation because I was listening to music, and going back and forth between my Facebook, Instagram, email, and blog. Yes, I was glued to my laptop and my phone.
All of a sudden, the power went out. Everything went dark. At first I was annoyed, irritated at the fact that I had low power on my laptop and I wasn’t connected to WiFi anymore. But I felt God giving me a little nudge to just STOP.
To stop what I was doing. To stop and listen.
So I did.
I closed my laptop, and silenced my phone. After making sure everything was okay, I grabbed a towel and went outside to my backyard. I laid my towel out on the ground and stargazed.
In Hawaii, with all the lights we have on at night, it’s hard to really stargaze. So this was such an unexpected blessing.
When I looked up at the glorious expanse of the heavens, I marveled in God’s beauty. The wind picked up just enough to gently caress my body, a physical reminder of God’s presence with me. All my doubts and fears that had accumulated over the course of the day, with everything that’s going on and the fear of the unknown, just washed away.
“It’ll be okay,” God whispered to me.
After a few minutes of silence and comfort in God’s arms, I heard my mom come outside. She lay down on the bench near me, and we stargazed in a companionable silence. Ever so softly, she then began singing, “When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, You have taught me to say, It is well, It is well with my soul.”
Listening to her beautiful voice, watching the stars twinkle brightly, gazing in awe at the incredible moonbow up above, knowing God was with me, it was such a precious moment to have with my mom.
All of a sudden, my dad turned on a portable light upstairs. Mom and I both looked up and I yelled, “Dad, turn it off!”
He gave me a quizzical look and said, “But it’ll be dark if I do.”
Mom and I started laughing. “That’s the point!” I replied. So my dad turned off his light and we continued to stargaze.
After a time, mom went back inside to check on my little sister. Hoku was attempting to do homework by candlelight and a few flashlights. I stayed outside and out of the corner of my eye I saw a shooting star. I made a wish upon a star. Well, a prayer really.
Soon enough, all the lights came back on. Altogether the power was off for only about 40 minutes, it was more than enough time for me to stop and appreciate the simple things in life.
Sometimes I do get caught up in the routine of my everyday life. Plugged into my laptop, my phone, doing emails, figuring out my finances, excelling in school, working out, the list goes on and on. But sometimes I forget what am I truly striving for—my own personal gain, or actually being the change that God wants to see in the world.
God needed to grab my attention to remind me that He is with me. It took a power outage for it to happen. And I’m so glad He did.
