Avoiding "Dogs" on the Road of Life

"Whatever you do, don't ever swerve to avoid a dog or squirrel!" This was one lesson consistently and vehemently drilled into the minds of my three teenage drivers. It stems from an accident in my teen years that nearly took my life, and left me with many scars, lingering aches and pains, and a few metal parts.

I wasn't behind the wheel of the car, but was walking 4' off the side of the road, facing the oncoming traffic, following the "pedestrian laws". But...in a moment that I still fear will return to memory, my 5' 9" frame became a projectile object, ricocheting between the hood of a car, an oversized wooden cable spool, a road sign, and ultimately coming to a hard stop, 150' from the initial impact - with the aid of a pine tree. (Now you know why I don't want to recall this experience!)



The driver, a young woman in a powder blue pinto, swerved to avoid a dog near the other side of the road. She lost control of her car, over-corrected, ran off the opposite side of the road - striking me from behind instead. Like many experiences in life, "I never saw it coming." (Thank God for that!)



This incident from the past, has returned to forefront of my mind, but with renewed perspective. I've revisited this situation from a vantage point of forgiveness. Let's face it, my "near perfect attendance at school, my 5 days/week dance classes, the "zero stitches, zero casts, zero surgeries on all medical records" quickly became a thing indicative of early childhood. Scars remain today from head to toe, an achiness/lethargy in my right arm is more apparent now than it used to be. I've recently figured out that the "full range of motion" I lack is apparent to me (maybe no one else) in seemingly gentle yoga poses. Countless plastic surgeries, multiple orthopedic surgeries, surgical scars, fertility concerns, side parts necessitated by scars on my head, back braces, heating pads, and many physical therapy sessions later...While I have forgiven the driver - the consequences of another person's "quick decision to avoid a DOG" remain and effect me daily.



Not knowing the driver, I can only imagine that if she had the opportunity for a "do over" - she wouldn't have made the same, emotional, rash decision. According to witnesses, the dog didn't give the impression of an impending jaunt into traffic...he'd likely have not ventured out in her path - yet, she perceived the threat of hitting an animal.  Surely, she wouldn't have selected the outcome that resulted.  So, another new perspective - I've wondered about the "dogs on the side of the road"  that I've avoided  ones that have led to lingering consequences.  Consequences far greater than the perceived "threat" on the side of the road. Here's a sampling of real life avoidances and the corollary outcomes - clearly, issues avoided would have been best dealt with "head on" instead of over-correcting and causing greater, sometimes lasting harm (some my own, some are from the lives of people I know):

Those things we swerve to avoid/Overcorrection result  

Rejection/People Pleasing (Always fails)

Secrets Revealed /"image management"

Being Overweight /Eating Disorders

Rejection by our children/Acting as a "Peerent"  (thanks Tim Kimmel)

Being Alone/Unhealthy Relationship

Not being "good enough"/Significance         

overcommitting/People Pleasing

Diagnosis/Postponed/cancelled medical appointments

Abusive Parenting/Permissive Parenting (not really parenting)

Accountability/Blaming others/Avoiding God

Delayed Gratification of "Wants"/Consumer  Debt

Aging/Mid-life Crisis/Compromised beliefs & values

Guilt for past actions & Experiences/Displaced Allegiance/Favoritism

Insecurity/A weird/reverse "self idolatry"

Unpopular Reputation/Image before others/"All the Above"

In retrospect, It's easy to see some of the "perceived threats" we may have emotionally decided to over-correct.  The key now, is to determine those "threats"  as we encounter them - tomorrow, next month, year, etc. and to give those areas fully to God instead of relying on our own, faulty ways.  (We are all a work in progress!!!)



"And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." (Phil 1:6)