Shattered

Sunday morning I woke up optimistic with a full plate of fun things to do. The night before we just had a great party with family celebrating my 2nd grader’s first communion and my 8th grader’s confirmation, so Sunday was going to be a day of rest and fun.

I walked out to the driveway to take my six year old to his friend’s house to play and my jaw dropped to the floor. The back window of my conversion van had spider web markings and a giant hole in the center. My brain was having a hard time processing things at first. I looked at the window and thought it was just a strange shadow from the tree in the front yard. Then I saw all the little pieces of glass on the driveway and my heart just sank. The first thought was “Who on earth would smash my car window???”, then a more rational thought came to mind…….golf ball.

Yep, on the back seat of the van was a shiny white Titleist 2. It looks like it was just taken out of the box for its virgin voyage…..never to return again. Our back yard runs alongside the fourth fairway of a golf course. “Golf ball incidents” are part of the price of having a back yard that is beautifully manicured, maintained (at someone else’s expense) and vacant for 8 months of the year. I have had several broken windows on the house; however, to hit the large conversion van in the driveway in front of the house is an incredibly bad shot. Chances are the person that made the shot had no idea that they hit my car. They probably never heard a thing. Our house sits about 150 yards from the tee box so when I add the fact that this particular ball veered another 150 yards off course and hit a window that is designed to shatter and stay in tact, instead of crashing to 1,000 pieces, maybe the golfer was as responsible as they could have been.

So, for the next hour my husband and I got out the vacuum, duct tape and ply wood and started cleaning up. I’m still wondering if the golfer had any idea what an interruption his bad shot had. I’m picturing some gentleman enjoying the 18th hole with his friends and happily imbibing in a cool beer at the club house, totally oblivious to the fact that he shattered something. He will never know the damage caused. He will never experience the tiny little shards of glass that I will be finding in the back of my van for months to come, the headache of calling to order a replacement window to find out the company that makes the window has gone out of business or the fact that it’s raining cats and dogs today and the only barrier between the water and my leather seat is duct tape, ply wood and a dark black garbage bag.

I wonder how many times I’ve done the same thing. When have I left a gaping hole with a casual yet hurtful comment? When have I carelessly left shards of sharp glass on someone else’s lap? Was it when I forgot to call my sister on her birthday? Could it have been when I was too tired to go to a celebration for a friend of the family? Did I ever unknowingly cause an interruption in someone’s life like a golf ball through the window?

Of course I have. We all have. And we will probably never know if we have been forgiven for it or not…..because, frankly, we didn’t even realize we shattered the glass in the first place.

I think I will need to have some faith in forgiveness. I have knowingly been the beneficiary of someone’s forgiveness in the past, many times. I hope God finds a way to bless forgiveness on anyone I unknowing hurt in the future. I think the least I can do is forgive 'Bad-Titleist 2-Golfer’ too.

You can read more of Beth's blog on www.theroadtofaith.com or follow her on facebook at www.facebook.com/theroadtofaith