My Ring Doorbell was pinging…The Lights Went Out!
We’ve all been there—sitting at home, minding our own business, when suddenly click… everything goes dark. No TV. No Wi-Fi. No hum of the fridge. Just silence.
The first thing I always remind myself is this: stay calm. Grab a flashlight, and make sure everyone is safe. But after that moment of scrambling, I’ve found that power outages can actually become a little unexpected gift.
One of my favorite things to do when the lights go out is to pause and pray. I pray for the reason behind the outage. I pray for the workers who put on their gear, often in bad weather, to figure out the cause and fix it. And I especially pray for those who don’t just lose power for an hour or two, but live without it regularly or for long stretches of time. It’s a humbling reminder of how much we take light, air conditioning (for us Floridians), and convenience for granted.
Of course, prayer isn’t everyone’s first instinct—and that’s okay. If that’s not your thing, here are a few other ways you can turn a blackout into something more than just an inconvenience:
Stay Comfortable
- Conserve your phone battery (low-power mode is your friend).
- Avoid opening the fridge or freezer to keep food cold longer.
Stay Engaged
- Play a verbal game or a round of “20 Questions.”
- Share stories you don’t always take time to tell.
- Laugh together, sing, or just soak in the quiet.
The truth is, when the lights go out, we get an opportunity we don’t often take: a pause. A chance to put the to-do list aside, look around at the people with us, and make a memory that no screen could ever replace.
So the next time your house goes dark, don’t just think of it as an interruption—see it as an invitation. To breathe. To connect. To pray. And maybe even to smile at the simple gift of stillness.
Pausing With God 