The day started like a normal Monday, albeit a cold one, which meant that the interior of the truck promptly fogged up when I began driving it to work even though it had been warming up in the driveway for several minutes. By the time I got to the parking lot behind the store, I could only see through the bottom 6 inches of the windshield. Thinking I would save time by not driving all the way to the end of the parking lot before turning around to park on the other side, I turned the wheel sharply to head over to a parking spot only to discover a previously invisible snow bank on my left side. Oops. And I immediately discovered how embarrassing it is to become high-centered in a four-wheel drive.
How do things like that happen? I have no good answer except that sometimes even smart people have fits of idiocy and inattention. And then we have to swallow our pride and admit that we need other people who were paying attention to save us from ourselves. So, my boss ended up towing me out of the snow, and I drove to the end of the parking lot where I turned around safely to come back and park properly in a parking space like I should have done in the first place. Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself, don't you?
I noticed the other day while looking at one of my nativity sets that a particular wiseman has rather a condescending pose - almost as though he didn't entirely approve of the rude and humble circumstances of his king's birth. I'm sure it would have been a far more decorous occasion had he been in on the planning. But he wasn't. And that's kind of the point, isn't it? No matter how much we think we know, or how competent we believe we are, very little in the day to day circumstances of our life is really in our control.
So, I will be remembering the "superior" wiseman the next time I think I have any wisdom in my particular circumstances. I will try to remember not to stand idly by judging events without any form of omniscience. Because even though our Lord and Savior knows everything, he still has time for each of us in our corrupted, tarnished state. He takes us in our broken state and loves us back to perfection. The least I can do is try to make his job a little easier sometimes by taking pride out of the equation.
How do things like that happen? I have no good answer except that sometimes even smart people have fits of idiocy and inattention. And then we have to swallow our pride and admit that we need other people who were paying attention to save us from ourselves. So, my boss ended up towing me out of the snow, and I drove to the end of the parking lot where I turned around safely to come back and park properly in a parking space like I should have done in the first place. Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself, don't you?
I noticed the other day while looking at one of my nativity sets that a particular wiseman has rather a condescending pose - almost as though he didn't entirely approve of the rude and humble circumstances of his king's birth. I'm sure it would have been a far more decorous occasion had he been in on the planning. But he wasn't. And that's kind of the point, isn't it? No matter how much we think we know, or how competent we believe we are, very little in the day to day circumstances of our life is really in our control.
So, I will be remembering the "superior" wiseman the next time I think I have any wisdom in my particular circumstances. I will try to remember not to stand idly by judging events without any form of omniscience. Because even though our Lord and Savior knows everything, he still has time for each of us in our corrupted, tarnished state. He takes us in our broken state and loves us back to perfection. The least I can do is try to make his job a little easier sometimes by taking pride out of the equation.
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