Taking stock

Life can change in a moment. I know, what a cliche. You hear it so often, and it never seems to apply to you. But yesterday, in one quick moment, life's paradigms shifted for me - again.

I've had a few of those in my life. The "aha" moment I knew that the young man I was dating would be the man I would marry and spend my life with; those wonder-filled moments I met the eyes of my newly-born children; and most recently, when our youngest son was sworn in as a recruit in the US Marine Corps and I realized that my devotion to my adopted country ran bone-deep.

Yesterday's paradigm shift was a little more mundane, an incident that occurs often in this beautiful and verdant land of ours. On our way to church, driving at the speed limit of 55 on a state highway, we hit a deer. No avoiding her; we didn't even see her as she jumped from the tall grass in the ditch directly bordering the unshouldered two-lane highway in front of the vehicle. No time to brake. No time to panic. Massive front end damage. Praise God no human injury though the deer did not survive. We picked up the car parts and continued on...

It was later that the thinking started, the what-ifs. What if we had gone into the steep ditch - there were no shoulders. What if there had been on-coming traffic? What if my calm husband had overreacted, swerved, rolled the vehicle? What if the airbags had deployed and we had been injured by them, like a friend's daughter? What if...? What if...? And the thoughts went on and on. And that's when the Thank God's really started.

Thank God for His provision and care that our family was kept in safety - something we take for granted as we travel so many miles, both for work and for leisure. Thank God for dependable vehicles we take for granted - the work vehicle that is now at the shop being repaired, the one has taken me so many miles and on so many sales calls and installations and the spare one left behind by my Marine recruit that I'll be able to drive while this one is in the shop. Thank God that we were driving my sturdy SUV which bore the brunt of the accident well, much better than my husband's much smaller import would have.

I'm taking stock today of those "everyday" blessings. Not so everyday after all, but such rich blessings! Thank God!