Speed Bumps

I know some people in the Philippines, and am very concerned about them at this time, as Super Typhoon Haiyan hits their country full force - and then heads to Vietnam. Lives changed in an instant! Major disasters can be speed bumps that wake us up to what is really important - that "one thing necessary."

As I was walking in the park today, I had to be careful of the acorns and discarded shells that are strewn on some of the paths. A retreatant told us recently that she's so careful of where she walks because she twisted and fractured her ankle one year and it took a long time to heal. I'm no stranger to falling (!!!) so I'm a bit more cautious than I used to be. All this training - hours of walking - and one slip could change in an instant my plans for the pilgrimage. That thought, too, was a speed bump for me. So... "what if that were to happen," I muse. "Would all that training be for naught?" As one sister used to say, "How serious?" How serious, indeed! Compared to a typhoon?

Thanks for those speed bumps, Lord!