In Lenten Reflection 20 of this series, I related a behind-the-wheel experience that made the ridiculousness and futility of my impatience really hit home. Seventeen days later, that experience seems to have been a genuine “Come to Jesus” moment for me. Without even thinking about what happened, I am now finding myself more reflexively patient. Much more. Uncharacteristically more.
Now here’s what’s weird. I recalled several days after the incident that it occurred in same place on the road where I had smoked my last cigarette. Something came over me, I know not what, and I put out my cigarette and never again had even the slightest urge to smoke. This happened after years and years of futile attempts to quit.
And it happened about 30 years ago.
So that makes two (I hope two) life-changing events, logically inexplicable, in the same physical location, separated by three decades.
Could it be that I was passing through Holy Ground? Some random access gap to the Divine dimension? Were these cases of God intervening in my life in a discernible way? Intellectually, I don’t know — but it feels that way, down to the core. I always thought the cigarette experience was Divine intervention. But twice in the same spot?
The more recent episode now feels like God hitting me over the head with His reality. It’s like Thomas putting his fingers in the wounds of our Risen Lord: proof positive. Perhaps He knows I need a good smack in the head.
Have you ever felt that God was actively at work in your life? Maybe He was and you missed it.
It is said that God always answers our prayers, but never in the way we expect. He knows better than we do about what kind of help we need, and when we need it. What seems random to us may be much more systematic than we can possibly realize.
Reflection
How is Jesus active in my life right now? Am I asking for His help? Do I recognize it when it comes?
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