From the desk of Teresa Jordan, Executive Director – With my vehicle needing an oil change I drove my husband’s car to work.  While it is a great car, it just doesn’t have the comfortable familiarity of my own.

One fancy feature of my husbands’ car is that you do not choose the speed of the wipers – you just turn them on and through the magic of sensors the vehicle’s computer chooses the speed that is needed.

Here’s the thing – I never agreed with the speed. I guess we all have habits, especially in driving, and I am very sparing with the windshield wipers. I spend a lot of time adjusting the intermittent wipers in my car to just the right speed to clear the shield but not annoy me.  With my husband’s car choosing its own speed, I was just a little perturbed at wipers whipping back and forth far more frequently that I like. 

This car caper was a small annoyance to me, and just one of hundreds that can cross one’s path on any given day. I had to choose my reaction; I knew that I was unsettled, but I had to face that there was nothing that I could do to alter the situation.  So choosing my reaction was the choice that I had. 

Sometimes we do have a choice about our next move when things are causing strain, and then there is action to take. More often, as with my husband’s fancy wipers, we need to adjust. In both big and small things, we can say to ourselves: “I am setting this down, I will focus on what I can control, or I will focus on what I know to be true, what I am grateful for, the beauty that is in this moment.”

Choose to look through a clear windshield.