The other day, while driving to work, the hood of my car came loose and slammed into my windshield. I quickly pulled over and brought the car to a halt.
I remember two distinct emotions occuring within seconds. The first was fright, of course. It isn’t every day you have a large piece of metal trying to slam you in the face. Thank the Lord for safety glass.
The second emotion, which followed quickly on the heels of the first, was anger. “Dang! How am I going to pay to get this fixed??!?!?” That’s what occupied my mind until my dad and brother-in-law arrived to take the car home and to drive me to work.
It wasn’t until I finally got into work that it hit me. The windshield could have shattered. I could have been riddled with glass shards, like some grotesque walking cactus. I could have been severely injured, or worse. Instead, my mind was occupied with how much my meager bank account would be drained.
I suppose I was due for a wake-up call. I shared with some people what I felt in the seconds after the accident. They all looked at me as if they couldn’t understand why I wasn’t happy that I was not harmed. Why wasn’t I happy about that?
That attitude, is, really, pathetic. I’m pathetic. It’s a good thing God loves me anyway, despite all that.
The accident, and the conversations after, helped me realize I’ve been focusing my sights much too often on those things I deem bad. I’ve focused so much on them, I haven’t seen the good things that, to others, are as plain as day.
God help me to see the good in cirumstances, and in people, before I become a bitter old man yelling at the kids to get off his lawn.