New Delhi, 2012. The electricity goes off. Right after a loud explosion. Most likely a transformer that’s blown in the neighborhood.
It’s late afternoon when shadows lengthen and shade our second floor flat. I sit in the dark. And wait.
The mental checklist forms automatically. Honed by long experience. If it’s an extended interruption of power, there are things to do.
Checklist
The meat in the freezer will have to be cooked after a certain point.
Sooner or later, perishables in the refrigerator will be transferred to the freezer. To stay cool amid thawing bags of ice cubes that we store there. Just in case.
Laundry. Hmm. Grateful that I finished a load earlier in the day. It’s hanging on the drying racks. Thankfully, the little washing machine wasn’t in the middle of a cycle this time when the transformer blew.
Plan B
Silence. Somewhere the automatic battery-powered light comes on. Set purposefully in a dark corner of the flat.
Eventually it will light the small kitchen that has no windows. And I’ll prepare dinner on our countertop gas stove. Scrapping plans for baking in the countertop electric oven (picture an oversized toaster oven).
Power outages often call for Plan B.
Check those expectations
Years before, our first overseas assignment was in Karachi. And the electricity going out sent me into a panic. Interrupted my agenda. Frustration built. How could I accomplish all that was needed?
But in time, these predictably unpredictable electricity shortages taught my organized, driven self to stop. Wait.
Check those expectations at the door.
Recognize that everything doesn’t have to fit my plan. Or follow a certain schedule.
Creativity
Accepting the reality awakened creativity. And helped me view it as an adventure. Some days.
Figuring out a meal gameplan. Sometimes on a one- or two-eye gas countertop stove. Think casserole in a pot. Or stirfry. Making use of what most needed to be cooked. Before it spoiled.
Soup. Lots of soup. We didn’t starve.
Changing up evening routines. No lights meant making up word games in the dark. Inventing stories together. Each person adding a sentence or a word as we go around the room.
Knock-knock jokes. So many knock-knock jokes.
Challenges
Staying cool in the heat was a challenge. Sometimes it meant showering in our pajamas and lying down on the tile floor. This worked until even the tile floor started feeling warm.
I learned that reading by candlelight may sound romantic but it’s a chore. You can make it through a children’s book reasonably well. But probably not a novel.
And keeping flashlights in strategic places prevents a lot of stumbling in the dark.
COVID-19 season
Remembering those days, I think about the whole “necessity is the mother of invention” thing in this COVID-19 season. As attempts to contain it interrupt agendas. Change months of plans. Take a toll on finances and supplies. Decimate daily incomes.
We sit. Wait. The mental checklist begins.
And creativity ensues.
Everyday
Everyday, brilliant and simple minds are figuring out how to live and thrive in the midst of it all. Searching for a cure. Finding ways to deliver help to the suffering.
Everyday, nurses and doctors and other medical professionals are going the costly distance for the sick.
Everyday, grocery store employees. Delivery people. And more. Continue serving and supplying the public.
We cheer on the innovators discovering new methods for navigating lockdowns. The artists sharing their gifts. Humorists helping us laugh.
And we learn to rest in the sudden pause. Persevere in prayer. Watch out for those who need our help. And encourage the isolated.
His ongoing plan
In the midst of it all, I come back to the most important lessons learned. In lengthy power outages.
That we can trust the Sovereign One who has an ongoing plan for our lives. A pathway in the quarantines. Who gives meaning in the upside downs.
For His love never fails. His Word is always true. His Spirit teaches us His ways.
Day by day by day.
What about you?
What are some ways you are navigating lockdown or “shelter in place”? How has creativity kicked in during this season of limitations? What helps you remember to trust Him day by day?
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9 replies on “Power outages”
Again on target, Susan. Sitting here under storm/tornado watches you’ve reminded me again of what a challenge circumstances beyond our control can be! Experiences have taught some of us to plan and pre-plan, improvise, create. In the end it is “day by day and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my trials here. In my Father’s wise bestowment I’ve no cause for worry or fear. He whose heart is kind beyond all measure gives unto each day what He deems best, Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure, Mingling toil with peace and rest.” Thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing this hymn, Bettie. So appropriate and one of my favorites. Praying for you now.
Yes, all this brings back memories for many of us who have lived through “other things” overseas. However, I have realized that I’m ashamed at myself for my own frustration, now that I’m living on this side of the ocean. I’ve grown accustomed to convenience, and it’s hindered my ability to go with the flow. However, God’s teaching me, and I’m starting to listen…which is progress, though I still think I should have known better. Blessings.
Oh sister, I know what you mean. I’m still learning… The day we moved into our new home in Alabama a couple of years ago, suddenly our electricity went off. You can imagine what was going through my mind. Evidently lightning struck something and the whole area was affected. I was struggling but then we realized all our neighbors were outside, gathering in the street. A rare thing here. We were able to meet quite a few of them that day. 🙂
God has his ways!
I’m learning to give myself permissions. I know I am blessed to have a great apartment and food and electricity. Emotional days still come and denying them isn’t honest with myself or with God.
Yes. So thankful we are free to cry out to Him, laying everything before Him. I was just thinking that as I read Psalm 31 today. Thank you for sharing, sister.
Yes!!!
🙂