I had just pulled into the parking garage at the hospital to visit my mother after surgery.  You know those garages where you go around and around?  There’s one way to park and another to exit, with signs all over the place?

I had just made a sharp right after I got my ticket, when I saw this.

A car trying to come down the wrong way.

I saw an empty parking space right near where she was, so I figured she’d been parked there.  Not where she would necessarily see the sign.  Though there were also arrows on the floor.  And there was the exit, not far away.  You could see it from where she way.

But here’s the thing.  There wasn’t enough room for two cars to pass one another.  Even though this seemed to be the shortest route, it wasn’t.  Because there was no way for her to get from where she was to the exit.  Not with a steady stream of cars coming in the entrance and rounding that sharp corner.  If she came any closer, I knew she’d be hit.

But rather than pay attention to the situation, she just sat there.  Frozen.  It’s as if she couldn’t see that she was going the wrong way, so fixed she was on the exit.  The goal.

I knew I needed to shock her to get her to move.  I rolled down my window and yelled “You’re going the wrong way.  Turn around.”  And I sat there to give her the space to turn around.

Finally I saw the fog clear from her mind, and she did just that.  She looked pretty shaken as she realized what could have happened if she kept going.  Or even if she stayed where she was.  Someone would have whipped around that corner and smacked right into her.

How many times are we so focused on the exit or the goal that we fail to see we’re wrong?  That we’re going the wrong way, or have a view that simply doesn’t fit the facts?  It’s hard to see when we’re in the thick of it, isn’t it?  And then someone opens our eyes and we see what could have happened if we kept pursuing our plan.  And we shake knowing what we missed.

That’s happened more times than I can count.  At times I noticed it myself, and other times it took someone else to point it out.  I’m so grateful for people like that in my life.  And grateful to God for showing me when I’m going in the wrong direction.

I hope you have people like that in your life too.  People who through their love have earned the right to speak into your life.  To tell you, “Turn around.  You’re going the wrong way.”  If you do, why not thank them today?  And if you’d like to share your story, leave a comment.