Perspective

It’s been really snowy and cold for the last several days. The news is full of stories of people who were stranded through the holidays, or had to turn around and cancel their holiday travel plans. People are cursing the weather, the airlines, the road cleaning crews, etc., etc.

Our family was affected by the weather too. We were also affected by my wife’s work schedule, which was ultimately affected by my change of jobs two years ago. It’s funny how everything is interconnected.

Normally, we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Day like everyone else. But because of Robin’s schedule, we celebrated on Christmas Eve day, which left Christmas Day feeling pretty much like any other Saturday. The exception of course was that the rest of the world was celebrating Christmas on Christmas Day. So, that meant our children made plans to spend time with their significant others’ families. Knowing this was going to be the case, I planned on sleeping in, cleaning the house, and settling down with a new book until dinner time when all would return home.

The weather was bitter cold and two days of snowfall combined with freezing rain left my daughters’ new pick-up truck frozen solid in the driveway. She had planned to be at her boyfriends’ home for breakfast by 9am. So we got up early to dig out and thaw out the truck. The truck and the weather did not cooperate. It was well below zero and the truck was not thawing.

Sensing that she was beginning to fret over being late for breakfast, I suggested that Stefanie could take my car and we would move the truck into the garage.

It was Christmas morning. The house was quiet. I thought about how unfortunate we were to have our traditions changed by something as trivial as my wife’s work schedule. I was irritated and frustrated at the circumstances that created this situation. I was about to throw one hell of a pity party.Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted by a ringing cell phone. It was Stefanie…” I’m OK, the car is OK, but I slid, and it’s in a ditch.” After determining that she was in fact OK, I put on my coat and boots and jumped into the still frozen truck and headed for the scene of the accident. “Merry Christmas.”

There were car parts scattered down the road for about 50 feet. My car was well off the road and real stuck. Stefanie was standing beside it in tears. I evaluated the situation; the car was damaged, but drive-able once it would be removed from the ditch. More importantly aside from her emotional state, Stef was fine. I looked at the marks in the road, and the path the car had taken. I saw the road sign, the mailbox, and the utility pole she could have hit. I thought about the oncoming traffic she could have collided with. I thought about the fact that if she had been in her truck, it would have turned over. I thought about what a lousy Christmas it could have been. Then I thanked the newborn Christ child for Stefanie.

Life boils down to perspective.

Footnote: Today, over 12,000 people perished in Asia as the result of a 9.0 earthquake. What misfortunes did we contend with?