Objects in Mirror are Different than they Appear

A couple of years ago, I had a somewhat bizarre experience. In retrospect, it made sense—but in the moment, it was just plain weird!

We have an apple orchard about 15 miles from where I live where you can not only pick fresh apples, but the orchard has a restaurant and gift shop as well. On my way home from work one day, I decided to stop and buy a jar of their locally produced honey from the gift shop.

I drove up to the main building in front, and as I parked I saw a middle-aged couple standing near the front door, arms linked, looking toward me with a huge welcoming smile on their faces. The orchard sits alone on the highway, and there were no other people getting out of cars besides me, so I supposed they were looking at me. I know, I know—you’re thinking “Judy thinks it’s all about HER!” But the look on their faces was clearly one of recognition, so I began to think who they might be and how they knew me as I got out of the car. 

At that point, they began moving toward me, clearly making eye contact and smiling as if I were the very person they had been waiting for. I smiled and nodded, not sure what to do. As I approached them, I joked, “So are you guys the welcoming committee?”

“Yes, we are!” they chirped. “We are directing people to go in the main door rather than around back,” they said, motioning toward the door I always go through anyway. “We are Pam and Mike (not their real names); who are you?” they asked.

Now, if you lived in someplace like Massachusetts, that might seem like a totally inappropriate question, and you might slowly back away like you had been greeted by the Boston Strangler—then run for your life. But here in friendly West Texas, this question made perfect sense, and I readily volunteered my name. “Great!” they exuded. “Just go on in.” At this point, even though I was playing along, it did feel a bit like a Twilight Zone experience.

Then suddenly things took a different tone as Pam asked, “So are you related to the bride or groom?”

Ah. It all became clear as I explained that I not only did NOT know the bride and groom, but didn’t even know there was a wedding about to happen; I was just there to buy some honey! Then we all laughed at the misunderstanding.

As I drove home, the honey sitting on the seat beside me, I reflected how the misunderstanding mirrors everyday life. Like the rear view mirrors on our cars warn, sometimes things are just not what they appear to be. We may be charging ahead with confidence, believing we know where we are going, we understand who is involved, and our purpose is clear. We often have little thought that our plans might get diverted, or that what looks like a smooth path may indeed turn out to be a rocky road.

Like the couple at the apple orchard, I often surge ahead with confidence, believing I know the right thing to do or that I understand how to handle the situation at hand. Everything fits into my reality, and I don’t even have a clue that I might be wandering into a Twilight Zone experience.

I believe God wants us to stay open to change, in the event that things are really not what they seem. We have to learn to listen to His Spirit and become discerning people, knowing that some of the things about which we are most certain will occasionally get skewed in our minds. Computer jargon describes a WYSIWYG environment—WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET. But in real life, there is no such environment. What you see is usually not totally the way it is.

We generally view life experiences through the lens of our own family history, our past experiences, what things have influenced our thinking, and a host of other factors. The narrative I described above illustrates how differently I viewed the scenario from the couple who had been assigned to “meet and greet.” We each interpreted the meeting based on our expectations of what we thought should be happening, not necessarily what the facts were.

My prayer over the past couple of years has been that I would see truth in my daily life. That sounds like a vague, general approach, but I think it’s important because any of us can get easily diverted from what is true, and get caught up in what sounds good, and what appears to be a certain way. A spokesperson, if they are articulate and sound authoritative, can be very convincing of any point of view regardless of what is actually true. Walk into any showroom and speak with a salesman and you can prove this to be true.

In an age where communication comes at us from so many different directions and often seems to have a ring of truth, let us become people of discernment, whether it’s about religion, politics, social customs, or a wedding at an orchard!

The Blessing Box

 “Funnel cakes at the State Fair” 

 “Grandma & Aunt Joyce’s visit”

 “Catherine the Great exhibit in Dallas”

“Relatives on the East Coast not hurt by Hurricane Andrew”

“Paw-Paw recovering from surgery”

“New winter pajamas!”

“University of Texas beats OU”

“Having the Willits family in Dallas on furlough”

“Safe return of church youth group from Colorado ski trip (and Angela’s leg healing OK!).”

“Nichole B’s recovery from appendectomy on Russian trip, and good medical care there”

“Answered prayers for Aunt Vel’s care” 

“The cats getting fixed—BEFORE we had more cats!”

 “Shakespeare in the Park—Romeo & Juliet”

 “US vs USSR hockey game”

As parents, Gerry and I were committed to doing the right things with our children. Sometimes we were successful, sometimes not. But one of the most inspired things we did was start a Thanksgiving Blessing box.

I can’t remember whose idea it was initially, but we covered a shoe box with wrapping paper, cut a slit in the top, and invited our children to join us throughout the year in dropping pieces of paper inside, describing something for which we were thankful.

To be honest, most of the time we were all so busy living life that we did not stop long enough to write anything on paper. But as November closed in on us, the box bulged just a little more as we remembered that the holiday was looming, and began to be more intentional about dropping our blessings into the box.

The plan was for our family to gather sometime during the Thanksgiving holidays, open the box, and take turns drawing a slip of paper from the box and reading what had been inscribed there. No one signed their names, but of course we all knew one another’s handwriting so it was no secret who had written the messages.

We had one teenager at home and one in college, and the notes you read at the beginning of the blog were actual “blessings” from the box sometime around the early 90s. It brings back such memories to read them now ~ and a few chuckles as well when I recall the circumstances surrounding each of the notes. A complete story could have been written about each one of them!

Some of the notes you read above seemed much too trivial, too shallow to acknowledge, but they described real life in a real family. Most parents remember with humor the times when their children were toddlers, just learning to talk. The prayers of little children are often amusing as they thank God for forks and spoons, for ice cream, for new shoelaces, for rocks and leaves . . . all the little things most of us don’t waste our time naming. (I have been told that I was overheard praying at the age of about four with these words: “God, thank you for my panties; they got a hole in ‘em, but they’re all right.”)

It is never too early or too late to begin your own Blessing Box. What a wonderful hands-on way to teach your children about gratitude! But please, let them list whatever they are grateful for without judgment. A Blessing Box can be just as important for Singles as well as families with children. No matter what our situation, any of us can find joy in recognizing God's daily blessings, and at the end of the year it gives perspective to take the notes out of the box and remember how the Lord came through for us all during the year. 

Sometimes our blessings are large-scale things, like remission from cancer or a new job. Other times, we see the hand of God in the colorful leaves in the Fall ~ and yes, in new winter pajamas and the cats getting “fixed.” God’s blessings fall down all around us in ways both large and small. How precious to recognize each blessing as a gift from our Father . . . and to tell Him so.