Recently I got new tires for my car. About a week afterward I was taking a short trip into town for groceries. At the stoplight of the freeway exit a woman in the car next to me gestured for me to roll down my window. She proceeded to tell me that my front passenger tire was flat. I was so shocked, because the tires were brand new and because I hadn’t felt a thing (I’ve had numerous flat tires in my life), that I failed to thank her as the light changed and cars began to move.
I quickly pulled over to look and sure enough there was a flat.
Now in this moment I can choose anger, frustration. I can choose patience and hope. I can choose apathy. I started to lean toward frustration but stopped myself and tried to negotiate that it wasn’t so bad yet. I hopped back in the car and found that a Big O Tires (where I purchased the new ones) was only a mile away.
I carefully drove there and despite how busy the shop was, I was immediately helped. I generally dislike standing in tire stores because I have a mild allergic reaction to the rubber smells. I usually opt to stand outside to wait, but this day was cold. Surprisingly, the shop is tolerable to my senses. But it’s crowded with few seats. I only stand for a few moments before a man stands and offers his seat to me. I’m back out the door in 20 minutes with no charge and back on track for my grocery shopping.
All in all this is a harmless situation where the solutions all came with ease. Instead of choosing to become angry at the inconvenience, I just road with it and was able to witness several kindnesses or tender mercies along the way.
A few weeks later I had an odd day where I was seemingly attracting several “bad luck” moments or experiences that could skew into the negative. I had a curbside pickup and there was no parking and it took more than 20 minutes of waiting to get my order. While at the grocery store the credit card system went down and I had to leave to go pick up cash and right when I returned 20 minutes later the system was back online. At a different store, I had to circle many times trying to find parking again in a full lot and once inside literally the only cart was one with a broken wheel that was hard to manage and made the loudest noise. My shopping took twice as long because the cart had to be maneuvered slowly.
After this errand trip, on the way home, I got a bit teary-eyed as I contemplated why I was attracting so many inconveniences. Am I being too negative in my energy/thoughts? Is God trying to tell me something? It may seem odd to take one trip like this so seriously, but I have had many other challenges in the last few months. Most of those have worked out for my good, but they caused some stress none the less.
The last little while has been interesting for me as I push upward and then slip back a bit, forward, slide down. But I have tasted what it is like to be “in the flow” to be filled with peace and happiness so I keep pressing onward to reach that peak again.
