Pedro The Armadillo

   Abbie and I were coming home from a party last night, minding our own business when all of a sudden – KERPLUNK!

Me:  “Abbie, what the heck was that?”

Abbie: “An armadillo.  You just hit an armadillo.”

Me: “Was it dead?”

Abbie: “No. But it is now.  Poor thing.  He was so innocent.  He never saw it coming.  All he wanted to do was get to the other side of the street.  And become a dentist.”

Me: “What?”

Abbie: “ Oh, I just threw in the part about becoming a dentist.”

   Now what I thought was ironic was the fact that we were coming from a barn dance and we were dressed in western attire AND we hit an armadillo.  Not a deer or squirrel or a cat.  Oh my goodness, did I just mention cat in yet another blog?   I’m sorry.  Anyway, I thought that was pretty ironic.  You know, very Texan like – barn dance, western attire, armadillo.  Ok, maybe only funny and ironic to me.

   I got to thinking last night about how life is like Pedro (The armadillo. I gave him a name.  It was the least I could do.).  You are just walking along, minding your own business, just trying to get from point A to point B when all of a sudden – KERPLUNK!  Something hits you.  You never saw it coming and there you are trying to hobble along and figure out what to do.  Unlike Pedro (may he rest in peace), all hits do not end our lives.  They are what I call, bumps in the road.  Sometimes they are just inconvenient bumps but other times they may jar us to our very core, causing us to question everything we believe in.  But what I’ve learned is that the bumps may try to rock our faith but they can’t destroy it unless we let it.  We can use those bumps to strengthen our faith.  

   I was telling a friend recently that this past year and a half has made me start feeling like I’m the modern day version of Job (You know, the guy in the Bible?  Old Testament?  One of the books named after him?)  And while some may think that is sad, I just try to find the humor in it.  At least I didn’t wake up this morning to find my body covered in boils!  Two blisters from my cowboy boots but no boils.  I like ole Job.  Lest you think the book is only about horrible things happening to one faithful guy, I will enlighten you to the fact that Job started as a guy who had it all AND was a man of great faith.  THEN all the bumps in the road came.  Once you get beyond what I call “Job’s whining” (my interpretation, not the bible’s words) and his friends trying to tell him how to fix things, you will find that Job still remained faithful to what he believed.  He remained faithful to God.  The bumps were intended to rock his faith but Job didn’t give in to them.  He remained faithful.  Then in the end, after all the bumps and losing everything, God rewarded him for his faithfulness.  Riches to rags to riches.  Faithfulness.  I’m not saying we will be showered with wealth and great health if we remain faithful during those difficult times, I’m just saying, we are more.  We are more than our bumps in the road.  More than the job, more than the diagnosis, more than the ache in our heart, more than that which wants to rob us of everything we believe in.  There is a higher calling, a better place.  And as for me, while I’m here on this earth I want to live my life for that higher calling so that one day I’ll see that better place. 

   Now, as for Pedro, I’m going to think happy thoughts.  I’m thinking he made it across the street, met up with his armadillo family, nursed his broken hind leg and has applied to dental school.  However, if you are driving down Green Cove Road today and see a dead armadillo in the road – just don’t tell me.  I’m in my happy place.

        
                      This blog dedicated to the most faithful,  bump in the road fighter I know....
                                                                     Michelle