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"Impending Doom or Joyful Anticipation?" by Tami Urcia (CatholicMom.com) Image credit: Pixabay.com (2014), CC0/PD[/caption] I’ve often thought I might write a book someday entitled The Perils of the Highway or perhaps more appropriately, Death by 131 (the main interstate that runs through my home town). Every day I come face to face with my near demise as one individual or another practices unsafe driving.  The large F350s who weave in and out of traffic, thinking they own the road and that everyone will simply get out of their way because of their size. The one who thinks it’s crafty to pass in a right-hand off ramp and swerve back into traffic. Those who jump into the right lane just as they come upon an on-ramp where a car or two should have been able merge on. The left lane speeder who refuses to let another driver in, causing them to lung back into the center lane, barely avoiding a collision, those who slam on their brakes right in front of you without using a turn signal, and the list goes on … Perhaps it’s a morbid thought, especially during the season of Christmas, but death is imminent all around us. An accident could happen at any moment, something completely out of our control.  During the past year, two of my coworkers have lost their fathers and a mother of 10 children became a widow. In my grief I groped for answers. What happened? How could this be? What are they going to do now? We truly never know what the next minute will bring. Now, this realization can either bring me paranoia, fear, anxiety, the desire to control, and an unhealthy mental state, or complete freedom. I can rest in the knowledge that God knows and I do not, that He has me in the palm of His hand at each moment, that He is aware of the exact second I will take my last breath and will be there to comfort those I leave behind. So instead of wondering if today’s drive home will be my last, I can live with joyful anticipation and expectant waiting. Because that glorious day when at long last I will be in Christ’s loving presence will be like an eternity of Christmases.
Copyright 2020 Tami Urcia

About the Author

Tami Urcia

Tami Urcia

Tami is a Western Michigander who spent early adulthood as a missionary in Mexico, studying theology and philosophy, then worked and traveled extensively before finishing her bachelor’s degree in Western Kentucky. She loves finding fun ways to keep her five kiddos occupied and quiet conversation with the hubby. Tami works at Diocesan and does Spanish/English translations and guest blogs.