Thursday, August 23, 2007

When the Lights Go Out


So this past week has been hectic and crazy and nonstop and .. pheww. With the beginning of classes just around the corner this is undoubtedly the busiest time of the year for me.

So yesterday at work the lights went out. All of the electric throughout the entire campus just shut down, and for the entire day the staff were limited in what could be done. Initally, we all panicked. With classes and orientation and registration and life starting up in the next week, each of us began darting throughout the office like a chicken with it's head cut off. "But I have this meeting and this email that needs to go out and this file that needs to be sent and this and and and" …

Each of us had a to do list the size of Texas.

So after utter frutation with working in the darkness, we all migrated into the lobby area of the building that I work in. We sat. Ackwardly we listened to the silence and tried to force conversation as with each passing minute we fall behind in our schedule. The minutes turned to hours.

And then it happened.

It the midst of the silence, as if we all just caught the punch line to the joke we've heard a hundred times—We laughed. I'm not sure why, but for me, I laughed because I realized the absurdity of worrying, what little good it really does. I laughed because I think God did this on purpose—no, I know he did.

We loosened our ties (so to speak) sat back, and began to enjoy the dark room. We told jokes and stories and laughed about random things. It was one of the first times that I actually sat down with my co-workers, especially the co-workers that work on the opposite side of the buiding, and really got to know them. It was nice. It was needed.

Why is that? Why is it that God sometimes has to literally shut the business out of your life to get you to open your eyes to the guy down the hall in financial aid, who just happens to be preparing for daddyhood for the first time (with twins). Why is that?

It reminded me of the times at home. In Portsmouth, occasionally we would get hit by one of those massive storms that completely wipe out all electronic devices. No phone, to lights, no TV… nothing. And I remember as a child, and even most recently in my early college years, cherishing those times.

We would light every candle in the house, lay on the floor drinking kool aid and make a shadow puppets until our little arms had turned to jelly. And when we would get tired, we would just lay in the silence and listen to the rain… All of the family together.

Sometimes, I think God has to turn off the world to make you see what's actually right under your nose, at least he did for me.

1 comments:

Rob & Megan Fri Aug 24, 08:25:00 AM  

Wow two posts! I'm impressed! I love reading your blogs. You're so deep! You inspire me. YOU are my inspiration. For real!

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