The Importance of Conscious Living

At the end of a weekend away I began packing the car in preparation for the trip home.  I took one load outside and realized that I the trunk had not opened even though I had pressed the trunk release button from inside the house. 

I left the load by the car and went back in to retrieve my keys.  While I was there I picked up another load and headed back to the car.

I put the second load by the trunk and pressed the trunk release button.  I loaded both the first and second load into the trunk and went to shut the trunk.  Something stopped me.  I made the deliberate decision to make sure I had my keys in my hand before I closed the trunk.

The keys weren't in my hand.  The keys weren't in my pocket.  I checked the ground around the car--no keys.  Again, I started to close the trunk, but something stopped me.

I left the trunk open and headed back into the house to see if I had left the keys there.  About halfway to the house, I turned around and headed back to the car.  I looked in the trunk.  Still no keys.  I couldn't imagine where they could be, but I knew I needed those keys in my hand before I closed that trunk.

At the top of one of the bags that had been loaded in the trunk laid my keys.  I picked up the keys and all I could say was thank you time and time again.  I didn't want to even think about what the chain of events would have been had I closed that trunk before I had those keys in my hand.

It wasn't something that stopped me; it was Someone.  God was reminding me to always be in the moment and to live consciously. 

God, it is easy to be preoccupied and be thinking of other things--in the past, in the future, people and places far away in time or distance.  Thank you for reminding me to consciously live in the moment.