What if??


 Have you ever pondered how your life might have been altered if a certain situation had turned out differently than it did?

Ten years ago, we were on a family vacation in Costa Rica. I was, obviously, quite a bit younger then, than I am now. But I was older than the fellow who used to enjoy playing in the surf, and I guess I was trying to pretend I was still that younger guy.
At this particular beach, the slope of the sand was steep at the water level. The waves were crashing late and hard as they reached the shore. As I was body-surfing in towards the beach, a particularly ornery wave crashed me face-first into the hard sand, then flipped my body end-over-end, putting pressure on the neck. The scrapes on the face and shoulder in the photo are the visible parts; not visible is the deep ache in my neck and back after the incident.
The force on my neck in the middle of that incident was so strong, with the full weight of my body accelerated by the wave slamming me down. I remember thinking my neck was going to break. It ended up being quite sore and stiff for a few days, but fortunately, not as bad as it could have been.
So when I see this photo, I naturally think, "What if??" How my life would have been different if, for example, I had been paralyzed as a result of that moment! Like a tiny hinge that can give a long perimeter swing to a gate, these moments in life can impact us in profound ways. We are always grateful when the hinge swings in the favorable direction. But sometimes, it swings the other way and the situation gives the result that is profoundly bad. My own father's life ended in such a moment when he was only 45. I have friends and acquaintances whose life changed dramatically because of an accident or disease. We often can't control the direction of the swing.
In my own life, there have been a number of instances when I was fortunate to have the hinge swing in the direction that avoided suffering or worse. I #GiveThanks for those blessings. I have had other instances where life was changed in negative ways, but I was enabled to accommodate and even learn from the challenge. For those I also #GiveThanks. I suspect each of us is a product of swings in both directions. We should remember and be grateful for the blessings of things that didn't happen.

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