Vandalism or Road Debris?
We had just started going out and about, enjoying renewed health and strength, and old friends. However, pulling into the driveway after an outing Doug spotted a screw embedded in the sidewall of the back tire. It stopped us in our tracks, as we hoped to be off on new adventures.
Stopped in Our Tracks by a Screw
Where did that come from? Vandalism or road debris . . . it doesn’t matter. Well, it does – I think it was vandalism! But, we still faced the annoyance of getting it fixed, and the cost of a new tire.
Reproofs of Living Aren’t Personal; God is.
Kind of like the bout with pneumonia, and more like the oh so many daily reproofs of living, and joys of maturity! It doesn’t change a problem to know from whence it came. (It may help solve it though!) The pneumonia didn’t go away because the docs diagnosed it. The tire is still compromised, whether a vandal drove that screw in, or I drove over it.
Getting stopped in my tracks – and finding no way up, over or through the wall that blocked me – seems to be happening more frequently. This maybe the brass in the golden years I’ve heard so many laugh about.
Sometimes I think my life would make a great TV movie. It even has the part where they say, “Stand by. We are experiencing temporary difficulties.” ~Robert Brault
How I handle the setbacks, reproofs, and calamities, well, that’s the trick. Remembering the universe isn’t personal, but God is, is step one. And gratitude is a much better lens than bifocals!
If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire—then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. Learn to separate the inconveniences from the real problems. You will live longer. ~Sigmund Wollman, quoted by Robert Fulghum, Uh-Oh, 1991