The Need & A Powerless Night

A journal entry from the night of December 20th:

               What would've been a cold, dark chamber capable of keeping perishables has been made warm and familiar by a simple fire inside a wall of stone.  Fingers of flame dance back and forth, almost rhythmically, casting a soft orange picture show upon the walls.  Since the seventh hour of the morning, our house has been without power, quickly taking losses in temperature but massive gains in the presence of scented candles.  On this night, the only portion of light necessary to make out ink on paper is provided - and that is all I need.
               Family members are scattered about the floor in close reach of the flames, the only other being a selfish cat lying asleep in a corner arm chair.  Reminiscence upon old friends and the cherished past only increases the warmth of limited supply - everyone just shared a laugh at the well above average regularity in which I screamed during infancy, I can't say it surprises me.
              Into the growing depth of the powerless night, iphone batteries have fallen to their last percentages and we are, without choice, thrust further into times where the glow of technology went undiscovered.  Life by the light of fire is a lost way of living revisited, and in myself I have found it capable of warming the heart.  On this night robbed of screens or automated noise, the real is loud - deafeningly so.  And with nothing but small, flickering symbols of His presence sitting near, I am exposed.  Here, in this dimly-lit sanctuary is human kind's most basic need and the lie of what is needed.  By means of our present situation, a heavenly prompt bids us in the dark to consider, above all else, the light.  He himself is human kind's most basic need, craved in the very depths of the soul.
               On the floor I sit before God alone - now that the conversation has grown weary and the company has departed - and I am, unequivocally, guilty.  Up front I (with ease) deny my own thinking that I "need" power, the iphone, internet, and social media from which it is derived, but with my actions I tell a differing tale.  From one second to another these things, along with all others that are presently dying out, can be taken from us.  This is truth I am presently experiencing, as all has been silenced but the crackle of flame.  How much more will man be fulfilled, if in the class of "satisfying need" he only considers God capable?  The answer is infinitely and eternally more.  In the unanticipated absence of perishing possessions, He has blessed and reminded us of the true source that we need and must draw from - Himself alone.  The others disappoint at the flick of a switch.

" And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
- Philippians 4:19 (ESV)

"Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."
- Philippians 4:11-13 (ESV)

"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."
- John 15:5 (ESV)

"'Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
- Matthew 4:4 (ESV)

Grace, Peace, & Merry Christmas,

J. S. Wade