Thanks to my guardian angel, I am blessed.
Last week, my niece and I were driving to school to pick up her 5-year-old daughter. There was a center median between the eastbound and westbound traffic lanes. A car coming from the opposite direction, going 40-plus miles per hour, hopped the curb onto the median, careening toward on-coming traffic… and us! That car hit a tree on the center median, which stopped it from hitting us. Branches flew into our windshield as the tree split in half from the impact. The sound of the crash was loud and startling, but we skidded to a halt. If not for that tree, the out-of-control car would have hit us head-on.
There was a electric company crew on the corner, and they quickly ran to the site to aid the crash victim. With shaky hands and a pounding heart, my niece navigated around the broken tree branches and slowly proceeded to her daughter’s school. We had survived! By the way, the woman driving the car was OK and survived as well. Her airbags deployed, and she was transported to the nearby hospital within a few minutes. (We don’t know why she lost control of her vehicle).
After my racing heart calmed down, I thought long and hard about what had just happened. Was our survival a matter of luck or karma? Or was it thanks to something more divine?
“Luck” is defined as a “force of good fortune or adversity.”
“Karma” is defined as a “force generated by a person’s actions and the nature of their existence.” You know the old adage, “You reap what you sow?” Yes, that’s all about luck! But, I figured if I had good luck, we would have taken a different route and avoided the entire situation. If I had good karma, then what had I done to deserve our survival?
After a little bit of deliberation, I decided that we were blessed. Blessed is defined as “care bestowed by the divine,” as in Christianity. By the grace of God, we survived. Yes, I believe we were endowed with the favor of safety and protection. My faith in God is strong.
I believe that everything happens for a reason. Personally, I like to think of luck as God’s grace and mercy. As for karma, I believe we should all try to help others and be kind. And, I’m a believer that when your time is up, it’s because God has called you home.
This traumatic incident reminded us that in a split second, our lives and our families’ lives could have changed dramatically due to severe injuries and possibly death. The accident brought to light just how many things we take for granted in our day-to-day lives.
Spending 15 years working as a nurse in the Emergency Room taught me that life is never guaranteed to anyone and that it can change in the blink of an eye. Day after day, I witnessed people who had plans for the day or evening who never had the opportunity to enjoy them. Too many times, I witnessed trauma or medical emergencies rob a person of their life. None of those people had planned to die in our Emergency Room on any given day. They had dinner plans, birthday parties, and anniversaries to celebrate, but they were called home because it was their time. Many of them had kissed their spouses goodbye that morning, only to be taken away and never return.
Life is short, so stop treating life like an afterthought and live it to the fullest.
Enjoy good food.
Allow yourself to indulge.
Say what’s in your heart.
Splash in the ocean.
Be kind.
Forgive quickly.
Love fully.
Life is a journey, so enjoy the ride because none of us are getting out of here alive.
Whether you believe in luck, karma, or blessings, it’s up to you to choose how you deal with whatever life presents you.
Good Luck!
Namaste!
God Bless!
