Have you noticed how quickly things can change? With one unanticipated event, your life can change in a split second, altering your life as you have known it up to now.
Change in a Split Second
A few years ago, when I lived in Fountain Hills, four people were standing on the corner waiting for the traffic light to change so they could cross the street. They were hit by a distracted driver who drove up onto the curb and hit them. Three of them died instantly and one was in a coma before his life stopped a few days later. They had no time to react. Three families will never be the same. It happened in a split second.
Then, the other day, one of my best friends totaled her car. She was entering a major intersection that had bushes obstructing the view and she didn’t see the car coming. If it had been even one second later he would have hit her directly on and she would have been the one totaled rather than the car. As it was he took off the front end of her car and she was left uninjured except for the fear of it and the soreness from the impact. She is alive and well, with a ticket, an “invitation” to driving school a serious need for a new car.
We had a long conversation about our mortality. Now and then it’s good to reflect on what you believe about life and death. A near-fatal car accident can certainly remind us to do that. But mortality isn’t what is on my mind.
How quickly things can change
How quickly things can change is a thought that is playing over and over inside my mind.
One moment you’re on your way to the grocery store to pick up something for dinner and the next moment you are sitting in the middle of an intersection in a car that has no front end waiting for the police and the paramedics. This morning you woke up feeling on top of the world and you arrive home with no job and wondering what you will do to survive. Today you have someone you love with all your heart and tomorrow they are no longer there for you. Yesterday your bank account was comfortable and today it’s gone—someone stole your ID.
But all sudden change isn’t negative. On the flip side, you may wake up thinking “same old-same old” about the day and you get a phone call saying you have inherited a million dollars or are invited on a wonderful trip with all expenses paid. Or someone called to tell you how much they love and cherish you and how they want to be with you. Or you get to work to find you’ve been promoted and will get a hefty raise and a bigger office. You aren’t feeling well and the doctor tells you that after all these years of trying to start a family, you are finally pregnant.
Your life will never be the same.
The point is, everything can change in a moment—as they say in a wedding, “for richer or poorer, for better or worse.” How flexible are you? What’s your outlook? Do you sit in fear that the bad will happen? Do you worry to the point that you don’t notice the good that takes place all around you?
It’s trite to say it’s important to live in the moment. But it is actually the only place you can be and the only time you can experience anything.
Now. Right now. This moment.
The next moment will have its own “stuff” and your life may change in a split second. Take advantage of this moment. Live it with an open heart and an open mind. Always be ready for adventure at this moment.
Think about it.
