This morning on my way to work, thoughts heavy on my mind and ten minutes late –I was stopped behind a line of cars while an ambulance and emergency vehicles sped around me.
I wasn’t close enough to see the details –but from the actions I could see –I could tell it wasn’t a drill. They were surrounding someone or something who lay on the side of the road –three or four vehicles were stopped in the middle of the road and a handful of others parked along the side. Lights flashing, sirens running…
…and there I sat. Deep in thought. Or, at least, in thought.
Thoughts of a conversation I was having with my sister before I had left playing through my mind: All the things. So many deadlines, so many expenses. So little time and so little money. The constant, it seems. As I sat, playing through different scenarios in which I could get more time and make more money –it hit me. Just how fleeting and precious life is.
Not twenty feet in front of me –the people responding and being impacted by the accident were no doubt, dealing with similar thoughts such as mine…yet now…with lights of blue and red flashing, I have no doubt that the thoughts such as “Which washing machine should I buy” “Agitator vs. Impeller” were the furthest from their minds. As I watched a man pace frantically back and forth on the side of the road I couldn’t help but be shaken from my earthly distractions and thoughts. Because really, isn’t that all that they are?
How often do I drive that very stretch of road. How often do I walk that very stretch.
How often am I thankful?
Thankful for the ability and means to even consider different options for washing machines. Thankful for bills to pay and money to pay them with. So often I gauge my feelings by how much money there is in the checking account –not to mention the savings account. How grateful I should be that we even HAVE a savings account. But instead, I choose to base my emotions on things that are fleeting. Things that are simply distractions in this world. Things that do NOT MATTER.
I’ve been guilty of praying for earthly pleasures and riches. For more money. While there is nothing wrong with that, I don’t think –I’ve been sobered by the thought that I am an ungrateful person. I have to make a conscious effort to be thankful –rather than being thankful –all the time. For everything. In all things.
I have no reason whatsoever, to not give thanks. To not be thankful…and yet…
As I drove past what I can only assume was the sight of an accident, late to work with thoughts still pressing –I was convicted that I have so, SO much to be grateful for. At the end of the day –the style and type of washing machine we choose amounts to absolutely nothing. At the end of the day –we have a washing machine, a house to put it in and the ability to choose to pay a little extra for a convenience that while is important to me –really amounts to absolutely nothing.
I waste so much of my time focused on so many of the wrong things…
Just last night in AWANA the message of “setting your heart on things above” was given –life if fleeting, time is precious –it goes so fast. I need to spend more time being thankful for what I have been given –good and bad –hard and easy –and less time focused on these earthly pleasures, for which, I am of course, grateful for.
Tangled Thoughts 