Lately, some things in my life have been going extremely well, but sandwiched between all the good things have been some distasteful happenings.
For instance, I’m just going to come out and say it, I definitely text and drive, sometimes. Yes, if you see my Texas plates feel free to honk at me and give me a reminder of how dangerous it is. Anyways, I have been working on this dangerous habit of mine so yesterday, I decided to pull over and finish a text.
Next thing you know, a police officer taps on my window and hands me a ticket. Hold on. I was pulling over to be a “good citizen” and you are giving me a ticket for “occupying a street sweeping zone on the curb”. I was IN MY CAR WITH THE CAR ON…I am so baffled and confused at this point, I just politely respond, “Thank you, sir.”
A few minutes later, I find myself walking into the “Parking Magistrate’s Office” (did not even know such a royal title existed) confronting a judge and walking away with a minor discount on my ticket. As I left her office, I leaned up against a massive concrete pillar and wallowed in my sorrows for a few minutes. For a few minutes I allowed myself to focus on all the things going wrong in my life. I felt discouraged and confused by sorrow.
BUMP.
“Oh, excuse me, ma’am. I am so sorry, I did not see you there.”
A blind man with a cane had bumped into me from behind and all of the sudden, I felt the shadows trip out of my heart and stumble right onto the sidewalk in front of me. I remembered the sun up above. How quick we are to let ourselves dwell on the hard things in life when things do not go our way. Maybe its time to remember how much we have instead of what we do not have.
I went home and painted a girl frolicking in the ocean (thank you, Mom for your humorous verb choice). The freedom I painted with yesterday came out of a place of thankfulness and remembrance of the Grace we get to live in, if we so choose to.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
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