“That which the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls a butterfly.”
— Richard Bach
“Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need.”
— Mary Baker Eddy
Yesterday afternoon, the Starlight Express and I had a fender-bender on the way home from work. I was coming around a blind curve when traffic suddenly ground to a halt in front of me. I didn’t see it in time and wound up smacking into the big, heavy tow hitch on the back of the truck in front of me. Score: Tow hitch 1, Starlight 0.
My car was pretty heavily damaged, but no one was hurt, and it didn’t damage the truck, so I was grateful for that.
Within seconds of the accident, a whole series of wonderful little blessings began to unfold, starting with the fact that everybody involved in the situation, from the other driver to the guy who filled out the paperwork for my rental car, was very kind and very helpful.
Especially noteworthy: A Christian Science practitioner I know — who is a real sweetheart and has a gift for sort of reaching right through the phone line to give me a hug when I need it — happened to call just as I was starting to feel very angry with myself for making such a stupid mistake and very sad because I knew Ron was unhappy with me. Of course my friend immediately nudged my thoughts back in the right direction and got me started looking for (and finding) blessings in the situation.
I think the most amazing blessing came into my consciousness Wednesday afternoon.
I knew Ron was not happy about the $500 insurance deductible, but I assured him (and myself) that we would have what we needed, when we needed it.
The insurance company gave us a $100 discount for using their preferred body shop, which brought the total down to $400. Then I remembered that I have $175 coming in from a freelance photo assignment I did a couple of weeks ago and $35 coming in from mileage reimbursement at work. That left $190.
I wasn’t sure where that $190 would come from, but I knew we would have it when we needed it.
A few hours later, I got a phone call from another magazine editor, offering me $175 to write an article about Route 66.
I called Ron and told him the deductible would be completely covered if he’d just walk into my office and take $15 out of the change jar on the shelf above my craft desk. 🙂
The whole experience was a lovely little illustration of how divine Love does, indeed, meet every human need, be it physical protection, moral support, or financial considerations. In this case, I needed — and received — all three at various points.
I don’t have my car back yet and probably won’t for several days, but in the meantime, my insurance company has picked up the tab for me to rent a car. Even the make and model have turned out to be a funny little blessing. I used to drive a Dodge Neon a few years ago. I made fun of it the whole time I had it, because it really wasn’t a very good car, but I’d been apprehensive about renting a car to use while my own car was in the shop, because I hate driving unfamiliar vehicles.
Lo and behold, my rental turned out to be a Dodge Neon — so I’m really not driving anything unfamiliar at all. It’s newer and designed a little differently than my old car, but all the controls are in basically the same places, the stereo even works like the one I had in The Albatross, and it handles just like The Albatross did … so I wasn’t nervous at all when I got behind the wheel. It was very reassuring, and I thought it kind of funny that I was so happy to be driving the very make and model I’d complained about and made fun of for years.
Every human need, indeed.
Oh, and my Cubbies won today. We’re in first place. 🙂
Emily
Red Fork Hippie 