Take last night, my husband has been putting our 3 year old to bed so that I can work on this upcycling project that I created for myself when I stopped by an estate sale in my neighborhood two weeks ago. In short...I bought an old china cabinet...because we've been married for 6 years and we don't have anywhere to put that expensive china that everyone told me that we needed when we were receiving wedding gifts! Why did nobody tell me that I would need a Caribbean vacation for my 6 year anniversary? Or a lifetime supply of pedicures? Where was that gift on my wedding registry?
But anyways, I do need one and I've wanted one for awhile but just didn't really have the time or energy to think about it. Not that I have an abundance of time or energy right now, but that Estate Sale sign was just calling my name. So I went in and I bought it...here's a before, just because pictures are nice in breaking up blog posts.
Ok, so back to my original thought...
My husband was putting our son to bed without me and it was taking a REALLY long time. I was in the garage working and thought that maybe I should go check on them. When I opened the door, I was greeted by the lovely sight of my son standing up on top his dresser while my husband is passed out asleep in his bed. Um...excuse me while I hand out "Parent of the Year" awards to myself and my husband. Oh...it was 9:45 at night.
(For anyone who is not a parent that is WAY too late for a 3 year old to be awake)
What if I hadn't walked in? I'll give you one guess as to what the next step is for my firstborn after he has climbed up on top of a dresser and then stood completely up. If you said "jumping off" you'd be right. I'm guessing he would have hurled his body onto his bed right on top of my unassuming, slumbering husband.
Not even 24 hours later, (that's a fancy way to say, this afternoon), we were driving home from playing with some friends when I had to hit my brakes a little hard for a red light. The trash from our "special treat" Chick-fil-a lunch, ice cream cup included, went hurling into the floorboard of my passenger seat. Without even thinking...I leaned over to pick it up so that the sticky melted ice cream remains didn't spill all over the place. What I failed to do was put my car in PARK!
Y'all, when I had retrieved the trash from what I thought would have been a devastating disaster spill, I looked up to see that my car had drifted into the intersection where oncoming traffic had been given free range by their green light to drive in the exact spot I was sitting in. What is even more panic-inducing is that a car had just made a left turn onto the street I was coming from...I don't know how to explain that better because I'm not a drivers ed teacher. But basically...that car should have hit me. I don't know if it was a timing thing or if he swerved out of the way of my drifting car, but it seems...it REALLY SEEMS like that was a miracle.
It also was a miracle that no other cars were coming through the intersection at that very moment.
It was a miracle that my son didn't jump off of his dresser and bust himself up last night.
It is a miracle that my heart is pumping and my lungs are breathing and my babies were born with their vital organs functioning.
A miracle.
I think we like to come up with reasons not to believe in miracles. I think we like to excuse things that happen as coincidences, when really, they are divine protections over us. It's easy to flippantly say that it was a lucky break, but I choose to think that God values me more then that. I think he has plans for me that require him to save me daily from myself.
I know sometimes that those close calls turn into disasters. Sometimes we can understandably look at God and say, where were you on that one? What happened that time? I don't have all of the answers for those...but I know that sometimes, the easy route or the route we had planned doesn't always end up being the best thing. I know that every single person will have things happen to them that they wouldn't choose and that all of us carry different loads with us. It's not a fair world we live in...that's why it's so good that it's not all that there is for us. You are so valuable...you are worth more than being left up to chance.
We may dismiss significant events in our lives as coincidences, but I think that deep down, we know that there's more to it. We know we are worth so much more. I mean, aren't we? When I turned around and looked at my babies in the backseat of my car today, I know the answer is yes.
So if we can't dismiss our close calls, we can't dismiss our existence either. We know we were created for SOMETHING. We have a purpose. We need to stop thinking unintentionally about our days. And definitely stop thinking about things that happen to us as accidents. So before you start thinking about the Friends episode where Ross has a "near-death experience" when a car backfired, I'll just say one more thing.
I can't help but be really grateful for the close calls. They snap me out of a daily, un-engaging existence to an awareness of gratitude and joy. And they make for some pretty good stories too...
I can't help but be really grateful for the close calls. They snap me out of a daily, un-engaging existence to an awareness of gratitude and joy. And they make for some pretty good stories too...
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