I was driving home late one night. There was a light mist across the road and I was lost in thought. Suddenly, to my left, I saw a streak emerge in the mist and stop about fifty feet in front of my vehicle. I slammed on my brakes, skidding to a half. The animal, a deer, stood in the mist in front of me and stared into my headlights. Then, spooked, it took off like a shot into the darkness on the right.
As the shock of what had happened enveloped me, I realized what had gone through my mind as the deer stopped in front of me.
I'm going to hit that thing. It's going to smash up my car. I hope I don't get hurt.
Then I remembered a story I had heard about a man who was riding with his fiancee in his car when he hit a deer and it went up over the hood of the car and through the windshield. It decapitated the man on its way through the back window of the car.
Life is fleeting. You never know when you'll take your last breath.
I'm sure that man had no idea he was about to die. I'm sure his fiancee didn't know either. It was just another drive toward home until the fatal crash turned both of their worlds upside down and inside out...and ended one life completely.
What do you think of when you have a "near miss"? When something unexpected happens and has the potential to change your life permanently? I know what I think of. My loved ones. And whether or not I'm achieving my destined life path.
Through heartache and pain, I've learned that those are the only things that really matter. When the subject of life comes down to the "nitty gritty", what else possibly can be more important than loved ones and accomplishing your destiny?
That's what I think of when I'm saved from an accident. Or trauma. Or the loss of someone dear. The world goes on with its issues and demands, but most of all of that is pointless. It is your dear ones and your destiny that will come to haunt you if you fail to really live. So make a choice to really live, because that's all that really matters.