Off the Ledge
A few weekends ago, my daughter was going to her college town to visit friends. She was heading down on a Friday, and I mentioned to her about the possibility of heavy traffic. She didn’t believe me since she had never experienced stop and go traffic issues coming to and from school before.
About the time I thought she should arrive, I gave her a quick call to make sure she got to her destination safe and sound. I had not expected to hear pure anger and frustration on the other end. She had been sitting in traffic, barely moving, for most of the last hour.
To be honest….I felt uneasy about her anger and being in bumper to bumper traffic. She sounded like she wanted to crash into the car in front of her to get them moving. I tried to make conversation to get her mind off the ongoing back-up. That didn’t work, so I suggested she pray. As we ended our call, I was hoping she would take my advice.
I can’t remember next if she called me or I called her, but she made it into town, but had almost hit a cat that ran out in front of her car. She had to slam on her brakes to avoid running over the feline, and began telling me about her story.
She got out to make sure the cat was OK, and noticed it was friendly and probably someone’s pet that might have gotten out by mistake. She set off going door to door to find the owner, but wasn’t able to locate the animal’s home. She got back in her car, cat in tow, and tried calling the Humane Society, but was not successful. She didn’t know who else to call, so she dialed 911 and let them know it was not an emergency. They told her someone would be there shortly to help. In the next 45 minutes or so, my daughter fed, and provided for the cat in a way that most people would never think about. During this time she realized she no longer cared she had been sitting in traffic, in fact, she was meant to be there in that exact moment, and her anger melted away.
What is so amazing about this story is my daughter loves animals beyond most people I know. From the time she was able to walk and talk has been exposed to them living on a farm, and has always had a way of nurturing and caring for them. At one point, she declared she wanted to be a CAT FARMER when she grew up (which always made me giggle). This cat was the answer to her prayers, in an unexpected way. The events erased her anger and calmed her frustrated mind.
She was reminded of the gift she was given. The special gift of caring for, and nurturing animals helped her off the ledge. Prayer works in unpredictable ways. They may not show up in the way we want, but they show up in the way we need. Blessings come in many forms; we need to be present or we might miss them.
xoxox….Sheryl