Driving home one afternoon, I stopped at a stop sign to wait for traffic to clear before proceeding. Across the street and to my left, a woman with a sight dog (seeing eye dog) waited, too. The dog stood by the woman’s side until she began to move. Apparently (at least to my mind), she thought traffic was clear. But the dog sensed otherwise and curled around her legs, stopping her from stepping off the curb. Just then, a car moving very fast turned the corner and sped off right in front of the woman and dog. A few seconds more, a few steps more, and the woman would have been hit.  Traffic cleared. I waited, though, for the woman and dog to make their steady way across the intersection. Only then did I breathe deeply and move on.

We don’t have to be stunt people or circus performers to lead daring lives, do we? Driving, walking, even shopping (those heavy carts can mow you down if you’re not careful) – truly our everyday lives can be dangerous.  And for the person who is “differently abled,” our neighborhoods can be obstacle courses. Even our homes can have places of peril (how long has it been since you looked up and into that narrow cupboard above the refrigerator?)

Yet, as I saw with the woman and her dog, just because there is danger does not mean we have to sit at home in a corner and let the world carry on without us. We can take precautions, be aware of our surroundings, and know our capabilities and when to ask for help.

And, we can trust. Trust is key.

The woman I saw knew she could trust her dog, and she obeyed his intervention when she was about to walk into the street.

Who do we trust? We might not have sight-assistance dogs, but we have One who is all-seeing all the time. We have the Lord. And if we keep our intention on listening to Him, we can sense the times when He holds us back in order to protect us so that we can move forward.

There’s a wonderful song called “Unseen Dangers” by Carol Antrum that sums it up: “If you could have seen the unseen dangers that the Lord kept you from today, you would be praising God!”

Praising indeed! And loudly!

Blessings for the day,

Maureen