Power Outage

As I retreated as my sister's house over the weekend, a storm came in Saturday afternoon, with wind, rain, hail, thunder and lightening.  All of a sudden, the house went dark.  There was a power outage.

The lack of electricity was not the only power outage going on at my sister's last weekend.

I was having a bit of a power outage myself.

Maybe it was the heat.

Maybe it was time to just sit and relax.

Whatever caused the power outage in my life, I took full advantage of it.

I had some plans of some creative work to do over the weekend, and planning and scheming with my friend.

None of that happened.

But there was a lot of visiting, talking, laughing, and sharing of stories.

Despite the darkness in the house and surrounding area, light was shown on the relationship I have with my sister and friend as stories were told, and feelings were shared.

Often during dark times, beautiful things emerge.  For example, after the storm, this is what the sky looked like behind my sister's house.  It was absolutely beautiful.

The same thing happens in our lives.  Storms come, we have no power, we may be a bit uncomfortable and some of our comforts taken away, but in the end, we find the beauty in the whole experience.  The air smells fresh.  The sky clears.  Sometimes there is damage, but eventually it gets cleaned up, and order is returned.

I'm thankful for the power outage this past weekend.  It made for a unique retreat experience and some time to just relax, and enjoy the company of my sister and my friend.