What a Difference a Day Makes

August 21, 2008

By Peggy Horn

“Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live” (Deuteronomy 4:9, NIV).

Ken and I enjoyed a walk around the small lake near our home recently. We watched ducks and geese waiting to be fed, a school of sunfish near the bridge, and carp and koi gently finning along the shore’s edge.

But things changed dramatically a day later. Heavy rains transformed the small body of water into a raging torrent that overflowed and flooded the area, closing the nearby road and sending emergency vehicles into action. Three teenagers were caught in the flash flood when the tiny creek that runs out of the lake sent a wall of water that forced them to climb trees for safety. A full-scale rescue effort took three hours, but ended successfully.

The next day, I walked around the lake again. The waters had receded, and there was the same school of sunfish and the same koi swimming casually in the same places as if nothing had happened. The ducks and geese were still begging for food; the turtles’ heads could once again be seen sticking above the water as they floated along lazily; and people were enjoying the trails as if the flood had never happened.

If we had not seen the lake’s swollen waters the day before, I would have had no way of knowing the flood had even happened.

Do we let things disappear from our lives in the same way? Important things that we forget about as if they’d never happened? Events that could have shaped our lives or changed our direction? Have we let valuable opportunities for life lessons slip away, virtually forgotten?

What important occurrences have you forgotten or taken for granted? Do you need to take some action? Is there something you need to learn? Has God tried to speak to you through some event, and you’ve not taken the time to stop and listen?

We need to keep our spiritual eyes open and not let valuable learning experiences zoom right by while we go on our merry way thinking that tomorrow things will be back to normal. God wants you to grow because of life’s floods.

Don’t waste the floods in your life.

— Peggy Horn manages a publishing company and works with Convoy of Hope.