I hate snakes. I also detest lizards and all other creepy crawly things. Creepy crawly things are simply snakes with legs so that they can creep and crawl. The other day, I was out for a long walk with an adorable seven-year-old boy. As we walked around the block, we got to my house and punched in the key pad number of the garage door opener. He wanted to see my new car, as all little boys do. As the door slowly went up, excitement changed to horror – well the horror was on my part. We both saw a chunky lizard (my trusty companion said it was a gecko) clinging to the bottom of the garage door with its little toes and whipping tail. My little buddy said, “Cool!” I screamed and, seriously, STOOD BEHIND A LITTLE SEVEN-YEAR-OLD BOY! While I was trying to not run away, he asked hopefully, “Does he live in your garage?!”
Well, at this point I had a few questions of my own. Just how long has that thing actually been here without my knowing anything about it? Why have I never seen him before? What has he been eating in my garage, so close to the inside of my house? Does he have a family that has also moved in? Why am I using a little boy as a shield?!
In this culture of everyone desperately trying to get what they feel they deserve, people seem to be quite proud of themselves if their lives are flowing smoothly at the moment; they obviously have it all figured out and are in total control with all the right answers. Everyone else is wrong, and they themselves have “taken the high road,” whatever that means.
It is very difficult for most of us to come to terms with the fact that we really don’t have ultimate control of our lives, or anyone else’s. Of course, we have to use wisdom in our decisions and not throw caution to the wind, but care and safety shouldn’t become a false sense of security. The fact is, the more we think we know, the less we really know. We have no idea of all the near-misses and “almosts” we avoid on a daily basis. Those of us who have raised children are well aware of how many times a day we’ve had to quickly re-direct a tumbling toddler’s head away from the table corner, or quickly grab a hot iron out of reach at the last minute, or race to the pediatrician with an apparent new food allergy. As a teenager, my daughter was driving her car across a four-way stop intersection just as another car sped straight through. To this day, I have no idea how that car missed her, but thankfully it did, and she unknowingly and blithely drove the rest of the way home.
We all have near misses. We are given wonderful choices that we can make as far as careers, where to live, etc. However, the people we meet, unexpected events, the paths we end up on, opportunities, tragedies, and all those details that come together are out of our tenuous control and in God’s perfect control. We may have choices, but the final decisions with all the details are really up to Him and the unique plans He has for our lives. We have absolutely no idea how many dangerous things we have escaped without ever having any knowledge of them. It’s easy to think that all the successful and good things that happen are strictly a result of our own ability; we are unaware that even our ability is a gift from God, as well as our being rescued from unknown peril!
So how many times has my little lizard been eyeing me when I never saw him? I obviously haven’t been in any real danger, other than heart failure, but I’ve also never had any idea that he was there. Maybe he has been eating, or at least repelling, even more terrifying and dangerous creatures, thereby actually keeping me safe (highly unlikely). Or, maybe he showed up just that once and has never been back. Maybe my scream convinced him he had much better places to be. Whatever the situation really is, I will never know. My sweet little seven-year-old friend had the perfect perspective; “Cool! Does he live here? Oh well, let’s keep walking -wait do you have any candy first?”
Dance on.
Grace Notes 