DailyConnections.net

MONDAY THOUGHT 12/1/08

Ignored Signposts & Missed Mile Markers
 
Sorry if this one wanders a bit, but here goes:  About 30 years ago, I was driving on the interstate between Indiana and Ohio with my first wife and young son.  Cori and I were having a doozie of an argument.  The subject?  Long forgotten.  Steaming and angry, I was passing a semi, doing probably about 70 miles an hour when, suddenly, one of our front tires blew, going instantly flat, and coming close to throwing the car out of control.  Miraculously, I kept the vehicle on the road was able to jockey it gently onto the shoulder.  The argument stopped, as life slammed instantly into glaringly clear — albeit temporary — perspective. 
 
Looking back at that time, I find myself thinking that God gave us a break (and though I’m uncomfortable with the term), a “sign,” an opportunity to quit squandering blessings.  Of course, that miracle moment didn’t last and we gradually returned to our quarrelsome ways, eventually divorcing.  (We now live in a state of semi-civil truce, occasionally coming together for family weddings and children’s crises.)   
 
My point:  God doesn’t leave us alone out there on the road of life.  I do believe that, every day, He gives us choices, opportunities, lots of help, and, yes, every now and then, a good, swift, kick-in-the-pants sign.  All we have to do is pay attention and just try to make good and positive use of these grace-given gifts.  Enjoy, celebrate, and take advantage of your blessings; they are all around us … always.  — jri
 
“[E]very time you make a choice you are
turning the central part of you … into
something a little different from what it was
before.  And taking your life as a whole, with
all your innumerable choices, all your life
long you are slowly turning this central thing
either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish
creature: either into a creature that is in
harmony with God, and with other creatures,
and with itself, or else into one that is in a
state of war and hatred with God, and with
its fellow-creatures, and with itself.  To be
the one kind of creature is heaven: that is,
it is joy and peace and knowledge and
power.  To be the other  means madness,
horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal
loneliness.  Each of us at each moment is
progressing to the one state or the other.”
    –    C. S. Lewis
           (Mere Christianity)
 
My brother Lou, who had been in Darfur, Sudan, for the last several weeks, is now in New York en route back to his home in Maine.  He sounds well, was briefly taken prisoner, and overall seems to have had a good time, at least in his own unique way.  Thank you for your prayers.
John R. Ingrisano
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