Last week was a tough week for me. It came on the heels of a rough weekend. My daughter, who is a junior at Union College had some tough exams in her nursing class and was not thrilled at her scores. Being the mother that I am, I wanted to reach out and comfort her. Doing that effectively is not easy from over two hours away. She also had a bad experience with the cross country team. She was busy with an important meeting with her nursing professors when the team had to make the decision to go on to a meet without her. Again, my daughter reached out to her father and I for comfort and support.
Then on Monday, came the "final blow". I had been to town to run some errands and was sitting at the end of our road, only a few hundred feet from our house, when my Toyota Rav4 got rear-ended by a pickup truck.
Not only did my car take a hard hit; my life did also. With the car having over 145,000 miles on it, we are pretty sure that it will be totaled. I find myself sitting at home, totally dependent on my son and husband for travel assistance, and not really sure when I will have my own vehicle again.
What surprises me about the whole situation is that I am not as devastated emotionally as I expected to be. Then, yesterday at church, our minister used the following passages as part of his message.....
2 Corinthians: 4: 8-12 and 16-18
8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
When my daughter's cross country team made the decision to go ahead with her she was heartbroken... for a brief moment. She shed her tears and then set about searching for a 5K in the local area, so she could still run that day. She found a 5K in a nearby town that was being used as a fundraiser for a community children's group. She put together a costume, since it was a costumed event and she was ready and waiting at the starting line that night.
That night I watched as she gave it her all, finished with one of her best times and taking the first place medal for women at the event.
She did not lose heart. She could have sat there in her dorm room, moping and feeling sorry for herself, but she didn't. She wanted to run and she did what she needed to in order to do that.
As for me and my car, I am very shocked to discover that I am learning to do without a vehicle. So much so, that I actually recommended to my husband that if the insurance company DOES decide to total mine, we should sell his car and use the proceeds from the sale along with my insurance check to get him a good reliable used car. You see, his car has over 160,000 miles on it and often has those little lights blinking on and off on the dash like a Christmas tree. I can manage. Yes, I will have to stay home more. Yes, I will have to have someone find time to take me wherever I need to go. Yes, I will have to give up some of my freedom.... BUT.... on the bright side, it will give me more time to get things done here at home and it will enable me to spend more time with whichever family member ends up chauffeuring me to and fro.
As Christians we need to remember that whatever troubles we encounter are truly momentary. As Scarlett O'Hara said, "Tomorrow is another day." It may bring sunshine; it may bring rain. But whatever it brings our way, we must not lose heart. We must keep on trudging ahead, making the most of the moments we have now, remembering always that God is there for us and will lift us up for our eternal reward. We must keep on running, keep on studying, and keep on living.
Such a wonderful message that we all need reminded of.
ReplyDelete