On second thought...

In my attempt to be more prepared for the unexpected, I left an entire hour early and arrived at campus 1 hour before class began. I made it there in good time, without feeling stressed, and I wanted to continue uplifting myself into good spirits. So, as I got out of the car, I put on my headphones, plugged in my iPod, and turned on some inspiring music.... then I accidentally locked the keys and my backpack in the car.

Thank God that I had my phone in my pocket. Thank God that my mom has an extra set of keys. Thank God that she was still at home with easy access to that key. And thank God that she answered her phone when I called and was able to make it to campus before class started to let me in my car and drop me off at the front door. By the way, thank God that the weather was excellent - beautiful even.

At first, I was really angry... angry that I did all I could to prepare to be there on time, angry that even though I was not anxious about arriving to school I locked my keys in the car, angry that I had to make that phone call to my professor to warn him that I might be late to class. I was angry that I wanted to improve my mood by listening to music and my effort was wasted by escalating my mediocre mood downward to being a full-blown bad mood. I was angry that the Devil had once again sent these inconveniences to disrupt my schedule and render disappointment and guilt. Cringing in anticipation of the reprimand that I would receive, I made the call to my professor.

Surprisingly, he was understanding. I did not expect him to be completely upset, but I did feel that it was a bad testimony of my efforts to get to class on time, as I gave my word to him that I would do for every remaining class session. I only gave my word to him because I honestly knew that it was going to be feasible. When I got him on the phone line, I explained the situation and where I was and he was rather reassuring about it. When he advised me that if I couldn't make it to class that I should just get notes from someone else, my immediate reaction was to tell him that my full intentions were to get to class on time - even if that meant I would have to wait until after class to get into my car to get my backpack. I was ready to go meet class anyway, even though that uncertain feeling and anxiety knowing that I didn't have class materials was weighing on my mind.

The silver lining was found in that it was Earth Day... I was lamenting how sad it was that I was not going to get to spend any of my time outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. Then suddenly, I was forced to sit outside and wait... I could have gone inside, but I felt drawn to standing in the parking lot to wait for mom to arrive. The sun was beating down, the breeze was blowing gently... the music was flowing into my ears... it felt like that moment had been perfectly orchestrated to teach me to pause every once in a while to enjoy the world's beauty. Too often, we are reminded of the demise of the world and the wicked therein. For approximately 10 minutes, I felt a sense of ease come over me. I do not think I have taken the time to enjoy my surroundings in any setting so far this year. I believe this incident was an act of God.

Alas, my mother showed up like a knight in shining armor with my spare key to unlock the car so I could retrieve my goods and then she gave me a complimentary escort to the front door of the college. What a great mom! I was sure to show my appreciation for her help, but I was also much happier that in the grand scheme of things this would-have-been dilemma turned into a blessing in disguise.