The Broken Garage Door

Sometimes it seems as though things are not always as they seem. Let me explain. About a month ago, while backing out of my driveway, I closed my garage door as normal. The door came down about half way and just stopped. Didn't go back up, no blinking light to indicate something was wrong, it just stopped. I got out of my car and doubled checked the track . After finding no obstruction, I hit the button again and the door came back up and stopped as normal. So, very cautiously, I hit the button again. Big mistake. This time, instead of stopping at the same point it had before, the opener tried to close the door all the way. I'm still not sure what kept it from closing, but the opener completely mangled the panels of my door making it impossible to close. After taking a deep breath and then fully assessing the situation, an unsettling realization set in - this problem was bigger than me. After praying a moment, I called a friend over and we spent several hours working just to get the door closed. My friend, Tim, is actually a pretty smart guy! Still, there was no question, this door had to be replaced. To complicate things, it was December and Christmas was coming. This timing couldn't have been worse. I found myself starting to stress about where the money was going to come from. Not to mention the fact that the thought of having to replace a garage door never crossed my mind. I knew God would take care of it, but, this was going to be, at the very least, inconvenient. Even still, I was worried about it. That was until a couple of days later when my 4 year old son, Stevie, says, "I wish the garage door was broken again." At first I was taken back by this. Why in the world would he want the door broken? Then it dawned on me. When Tim and I were working on the door that night, I enlisted Steve's help. He got to hang out with the "guys" and spend some quality time with dad. It made him feel so special. He loved it. You know, it's kinda funny actually. I'm always looking for ways to spend quality, memory building, time as an investment in my kid's lives. One reason, is that I know our time together is going to be like a vapor and gone long before I'm ready. And, here in the midst of what I perceive to be an awful situation, is one of those very wonderful moments. I guess it just depends from what perspective you're looking. I now find myself thanking God for helping me, without me even knowing it, turn a potentially very stressful situation into a wonderful and lasting memory for my son and I. I'm so grateful that He used my 4 year old son to teach me a lot through this experience. Next time I can only hope I remember to, at least, take a peek from different perspective before I allow myself to become stressed out. God is truly awesome! And, yeah, I'm actually thanking God for the broken garage door.