The Power of a Choice
It all started with a weird smell at 5AM on a Monday morning.
I woke up from a dream to the faint smell of smoke, yet it seemed to come and go, which made me think it was all just in my head. After a quick trip to the bathroom, I got back into my bed; however, my heart was still restless. What was that smell that I kept smelling? I said a quick prayer to Mama Mary, despite my uncertainty as to why I was praying that early in the morning. “Reveal to me what I need to see,” I asked through my prayer. Get up, go, and find what you are looking for. It was as if a strong voice in my heart was clearly telling me what I needed to hear.
I grabbed my phone and, using it as a flashlight, began to search throughout the house for the source of this weird smell. I did not see any traces of smoke coming from any of my housemates’ rooms, so I decided to check the main floor. I walked to the front of our townhouse and checked outside through the front windows, but did not see anything. As my concern began to grow, I moved towards the back of our townhouse and peeked out our back windows. That is when I saw the reflection of flame in a parked car on the street. Immediately recognizing that something was seriously wrong and feeling my heart start to beat faster, I quickly opened the sliding glass door to our back deck, stepped outside, and glanced to my right.
There I saw it.
The illumination of orange and yellow that had completely taken over the backside of my two neighbors’ homes from the driveway all the way up to the deck. Without even thinking, I felt my fingers start dialing 911 on my phone, and that’s when I heard a mini explosion. I ran back into the house, frantically screaming my housemates’ names and yelling “fire!” I gave our address to the 911 operator, as I ran out our front door.
Barefoot and still in our pajamas, my housemates and I headed to wake up our neighbors since our homes were all connected. We banged on their doors as loud as we could, while also simultaneously ringing their doorbells. The 911 operator informed me that help was on the way, and after what felt like several minutes, our neighbors finally woke up and came downstairs to answer their doors. We briefly informed them what was going on and helped them rescue their pets, and as we were moving away from the houses, we heard another loud pop. We turned and saw both roofs completely erupt into flames, and it finally became a reality that we had just saved their lives right in time.
The rest of the morning was such a blur between comforting our neighbors as they cried out in grief over losing their homes, falling to my knees in the wet grass and praying as many Hail Mary prayers as I could, helping take care of our neighbors’ pets, and sharing details with multiple police officers and firefighters. Everyone kept saying that we saved the day and that had we not acted so quickly, several people would have lost their lives that morning, yet I could not take all of the credit. I kept reminding everyone that it was God who kept us safe that morning.
At 5AM, I was faced with a choice, and I chose to listen to the voice of God. All of the “what if” questions constantly flow through my mind, yet I am overwhelmed by a feeling of love. We cannot say “this is all in God’s plan” whenever something bad happens in our lives because that gives us the wrong impression that God wants these bad things to happen. Instead, God loves us so much, that he gave us the gift of freedom and choice, and with that comes suffering. We must find the beauty in our suffering and respond to suffering with trust in the good that God will bring from it.
My housemates and I definitely witnessed beauty on that Monday morning. We saw it in the opportunity to pray over our neighbors in our front yards. We saw it in the support and kindness of all of the police and firefighters who risked their lives to put out the flames. We saw it in the overwhelming generosity of friends, neighbors, and complete strangers, who brought us food, empty boxes, and helping hands, as we helped salvage anything from our neighbors’ homes. We saw it in several parishioners from our parishes, who offered us their home to stay until our place could be properly cleaned and rid of the lingering smoke smell. We continue to see it in each other, as we thank God for everything with which we have been blessed, including the gift of community, friendship, and prayer.
Be thankful for what you have been given, especially for freedom, the power to make choices, and the ability to pray to the One who never abandons us.
Now, what will you choose?
