A woman in Paris

"A woman in Paris was on her way to go shopping. But she'd forgotten her coat; she went back to get it. When she'd gotten her coat the phone had rung, so she'd stopped to answer it, and talked for a couple of minutes. While the woman was on the phone, Daisy was rehearsing for a performance at the Paris Opera House. While she was rehearsing, the woman on the phone now had gone outside to get a taxi. Now a taxi driver had dropped off a fare earlier, stopped to get a cup of coffee, and all the while Daisy was rehearsing. This cab driver that had dropped off the earlier fare and stopped to get the cup of coffee had picked up the lady who was going shopping, who missed getting an earlier cab. The taxi had to stop for a man crossing the street, who had left for work five minutes later than he normally did because he'd forgotten to set his alarm. While that man, late for work, was crossing the street, Daisy had finished rehearsing and was taking a shower. And while Daisy was showering, the taxi was waiting outside a boutique for the lady to pick up a package, which hadn't been wrapped yet because the girl who was supposed to wrap it had broken up with her boyfriend the night before, and forgot. Once it was wrapped, the woman was back in the cab, which was blocked by a delivery truck. All the while Daisy was getting dressed. The delivery truck pulled away and the taxi was able to move. Meanwhile Daisy (the last to get dressed) waited for one of her friends who had broken her shoe laces. While the taxi was stopped waiting for a traffic light, Daisy and her friend came out of the back of the theater.

"And if only one thing had happened differently---if that shoe lace hadn't broken, or that delivery truck had moved moments earlier, or that package had been wrapped and ready because that girl hadn't broken up with her boyfriend, or that man had set his alarm and got up five minutes earlier, or that taxi driver hadn't stopped for a cup of coffee, or that woman had remembered her coat and got into an earlier cab---Daisy and her friend wouldn't have crossed the street and the taxi would have driven by.

"But . . . the taxi did not go by, and that driver was momentarily distracted, and that taxi hit Daisy. And her leg was crushed" (from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).

All of which has made me resolve not to be impatient when I miss a green light, or when I am interrupted in my work by a neighbor at the door, or a lady and her son budge ahead of me in line at the amusement park. These things and the outworking of them are "too great and too marvelous for me" (Psalm 131:1). It makes no sense to try to run my life. Let me quiet my heart and simply obey. What a relief and a comfort that God loves me and precedes me, working out all things for my good.

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