The delays that frustrate us

 Someone once said,

“I don’t wish people health or wealth. I wish them luck.

Because the people on the Titanic were healthy.

They were rich.

But they weren’t lucky.”

It makes you stop and think.

After the 9/11 attacks, a lot of people came forward with stories.

Stories about how they survived, not by choice, but by chance.

One man lived because he took his son to his first day of kindergarten.

Another survived because it was his turn to bring doughnuts to work.

Someone else missed their train.

Someone got stuck in traffic.

A woman’s alarm didn’t go off.

Another spilled coffee on her shirt and had to change.

Someone’s car wouldn’t start.

Someone went back home to answer a phone call.

One person was running late because their child was being unusually slow.

And one man simply couldn’t catch a cab.

They were just small things. Ordinary things.

But those tiny moments changed how that day unfolded.

Ever since I read these stories, I’ve started thinking differently.

Now, when I’m running late,

When I forget something and have to go back,

When my morning falls apart for no reason,

I try to remind myself:

Maybe this isn’t bad luck.

Maybe I’m exactly where I need to be.

Maybe something is protecting me from what I don’t even see.

So the next time things don’t go your way,

The keys go missing, the traffic is awful, your plans fall apart,

Pause.

Take a breath.

Maybe it’s not a setback.

Maybe it’s life helping you in disguise.

Because sometimes,

The delays that frustrate us

Are the very things that save us.