My neighbor called me on my cell phone the other day to tell me not to rush home after work - there had been a car accident not too far from our home. The driver had hit a transformer, which caused our neighborhood to lose electricity.

Thankfully, I was taking my children to choir rehearsal at church, which would buy me almost two hours.  I dawdled on the way home by stopping to run a couple of errands.

Even so, as the regular bedtime hour approached, my husband called to inform me that we still had no power.

My mind raced with all that I had planned to that evening that only the modern conveniences of electricity allowed - ironing clothes for school and work the next day, checking my email, and more.  But as we pulled into the unusually dark neighbor, my daughter gasped with excitement.

"It's so quiet! I've never seen our neighborhood so still before!"

When we stepped out of the car and she raised her eyes, she grew more exuberant.

"Look at the sky! Look at the beautiful stars!" She turned to me and smiled. "They were probably there all the time, but because of all the lights I never noticed them before. They're lighting up the sky!"

Her joy readjusted my attitude. I prayed that the person who had been in the car accident earlier that evening was OK, and that he or she wasn't seriously injured. Then I thanked God for helping my daughter see the gems in what I had considered an interruption in my schedule.

My son and I stood there with her on our sidewalk that evening and admired the stars too. She was right - they were absolutely beautiful, and I probably wouldn't have noticed their light without a reason to pause.

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28