The Miracle In Missing The Exit

There are most definitely those times that I’m using my GPS and it’s telling me to get off on one exit and I keep straight.

Now for the most part, I’m pretty good with directions.

Distracted

“As I’m driving and talking on the phone (which I wasn’t holding), I missed my exit."

However, there are most definitely those times that I’m using my GPS and it’s telling me to get

off on one exit and I keep straight.

As a matter of fact, it happened the other day...LOL!

I was on my way to a doctor’s appointment and it was my first time seeing this doctor, so I had to use my GPS. As I’m driving and talking on the phone (which I wasn’t holding), I missed my exit. I thought to myself, “I should’ve been paying attention! Now it’s going to take me longer to get there.”

Sure enough, it took me longer, but I found out how some streets connect and some shorter ways to get where I need to be, if I’m stuck in traffic. As I followed the directions on my GPS from one street to another, the area I was in started to make sense…an area that I frequent, but I only go down certain streets. Every time I turned on a new street, my reaction was,

“Ooooooh!” or “This is where this ends up?”

So…I made it to my appointment just fine, only to find out that they had me scheduled for the wrong time. Therefore, I had to reschedule. I know this sounds like my doctor “visit” was in vain, but it wasn’t. I thought how if I had never taken the wrong turn, I wouldn’t have ever become more familiar with that area. Getting lost still allowed me to make it to my destination.

Getting lost made me acknowledge that distraction got me there. (talking on the phone)

Getting lost gave me options to get where I need to be sometimes without sitting on mainly traveled roads.

Again, it took me a little longer, but I learned something new…how to maneuver if I have to. Knowing other ways is always a sure way, to not be bound.

Missed Directions

This has most certainly been life for me and maybe you. I have missed more exits than I care to count. I took a long route, but where I ended up was beautiful. The scenery on those less traveled roads were not nice fences or manicured yards. There weren’t any luxury cars or nicely paved roads.

It was the total…opposite.

The roads weren’t even patched, they were horrible. Everything looked dirty and worn. The neighborhoods didn’t have a watch association. It was every man for himself. The people weren’t friendly. No one was baking apple pies or cookies and bringing them next door. It was eat how you can and figure it out. Didn’t I say, getting lost showed me how to maneuver?

That’s exactly what I mean. Forget luxury cars, I didn’t even have one. If no one took me, I didn’t go. If everyone was busy, I had to wait. If no one felt like it that day, I had to live with that. Yep, there’s that maneuvering again.

Teaching Moment

“But all of that taught me patience, understanding, and just being settled in working with what I

I got acquainted with compassion and developed a bond with empathy. I’ll never, by the grace of God, make anyone feel the way I did. But alllllll of that? Turned into me connecting the dots…understanding my own behavior… acknowledging that some things needed to be changed and refined. The relationship I developed with the long route changed my life…for the BETTER.

A person who drives across the country, will experience way more than a person who flies.

When you’re driving, you have to think about you as well as those you’re responsible for. When you’re flying, you don’t have to think about anyone but yourself because someone is responsible for you. The scenery is different…driving causes you to go through scenario differences, while flying causes you to go above it. You don’t even see anything because it’s out of your view.

I’m pretty sure you understand what I’m trying to tell you…

Missing the exit, saved my life…even when I didn’t realize it. How? It made me really learn some lessons that I would have zipped through super-fast, which would have caused me to not pass certain tests. It’s just like when I first arrived as a freshman at The University of Mississippi, I was told by upperclassmen, “Whatever you do, pass all of your classes. Even if you change your major, you don’t have time to repeat any of your classes.”

That long route has no repeats…you have time to get it.

So, the next time you get “lost”? Learn the lesson. Take responsibility for whatever part you

play. Find the beauty in the horrible scenery…it will give you vision that eyeglasses and contacts never will. In my opinion, ultimately, getting lost helps you find your way and sharpens your navigation.

Missing exits isn’t so bad after all…don’t do it on purpose, but if it happens? Help someone else

navigate. The miracle is in the lesson…learn it…so others can get their miracle.