We have all experienced or heard that was the moment or that was the event that changed everything. We have had a life experience that along the way shaped or molded us into who we are. There are also moments in our life that we didn’t either execute or follow through with that ultimately helped with who we are also. Sometimes it’s that event we failed or missed out on that never leaves our thinking.
Mr. Destiny was a movie from 1990 about a guy who pinpointed his life to a baseball game that he failed to produce at as a 15 yr old high school player. He never let that thought and moment go, he gets granted a wish and relives that moment and this time comes through with the big hit which leads him to the life he thought he would have. However, in the end he realizes that the life he had resulting from his failure was where he belongs and was happier. We often wish our life away, when we are living the life that dreams are made of.
There’s a lot of moments in my life I can go back to but I had an event that occurred twice, one time I failed to complete the moment and the other I saw to completion. As a sophomore in high school I had a crush on a girl named Amber, pretty certain the feelings were mutual. We had talked and spent time together. One evening we attended a middle school football game, that neither of us watched. We spent the time walking around the field and talking, its still on of my biggest highlights from high school. We both got it agreed upon that my dad would take her home after the game. I walked her to the front door and if memory serves me correctly hugged her goodnight after some more conversation. To this day, I don’t know why I didn’t kiss her goodnight instead. In my head all evening that was what I planned to do. In fact for years after I revisited that evening and what didn’t happen. Would that kiss have changed anything, would both of our paths been different? We never took that next step with a relationship. I did have a similar experience with my wife, where after a great evening of talking we sealed it with our first kiss. We were heading in that direction and the kiss was the final step to continue that path. How many of you have had something similar?
Do you revisit events in our path? Do you think about how things would have been with that moment or event? I think we all do to an extent. A story I still remember and think about often happened my freshman year in college English. The professor had us talk about what led us to Concord College. For some it was a funny story about family attending and having to do the same. A few talked about scholarships, location or sports. However, one guy stood up and before he started we all started to laugh as he had been one to cut jokes and be light-hearted with his actions so far in the class. Then he began to talk, he said two weeks before college was to start he had made the decision to end his life. He wrote out his suicide note, packed his backpack and walked out the door to go to the final location. Upon his walk, a car pulled up beside him and the driver rolled down the window to say hi. He said it was a girl from his same high school who he had always liked. They talked for awhile and agreed to have dinner that night. He went home and hid the note. At dinner she told him she had always liked him to but was always afraid to tell him. She found out he was going to Concord too and was excited to be able to see him more. They started a relationship that night. He said right before he left his house he asked God for a sign if he was to proceed with his plan or was there a reason or purpose to be here. He had felt unloved and didn’t see a reason to live. The girl he had always had feelings for drove to see him on the day he was planning to end his life. He said that was what led him to Concord. There was not a single dry eye in the room after this story.
That ONE thing that could change it all could be a missed kiss with Amber, the first kiss with your wife, someone telling you their true feelings or a chance at redemption for something you failed at. We all have our ONE thing. If you haven’t experienced yours yet, keep looking you never know who may pass you by.
Enjoy your day!
TCB