Prayer for Those with a Flat Tire on a Busy Highway

May your wheels be turning, always, at least to the next exit.

Dear fellow driver with a flat tire and who is stricken like an ailing bird on the side of the road:

We see you. We notice you. If we don’t stop, that doesn’t mean we wish ill for you.

Chalk it up for our poverty of spirit.

Instead of slamming on the brakes and rushing to your aid, we continue to drive as though we’ve seen nothing. Some of us are even secretly relieved inside that they are not you.

May you have the patience and steel of confidence to stand your ground and not lose your faith in the goodness of those around you…

May your cell phone have enough charge to fetch you quickly the assistance you need.

May the good Lord protect you against the elements and animals of the wild and citizens of the land who might try to take advantage of your misfortune.

And above all, may The Architect grace you with the generosity of heart to forgive each and every one of us who blow by without stopping, some of them perhaps even splashing mud and rain to add insult to callousness.

It happens. And you’d better forgive.

Life is a business of forgiving, forgetting, and forgiving yet again.

And there’s always more to everything…

Perhaps the one who didn’t stop was on her way to an emergency worse than yours.

Perhaps someone was rushing to the hospital to save a two-year-old child.

So many reasons why things happen or not.

Perhaps you were lucky, but you knew not.

Remember that what visits you today may and will visit another tomorrow.

So, on that day, may you have the presence of mind to remember what has happened to you earlier.

May your foot push the brake pedal on that day to pull off the highway and deliver what’s needed with a smile and good humor in your wise eyes.

And more than that, where there is a driver too old or weak or scared to change his or her own tire, may the force that runs things in this universe small and large, may that cloud give an extra coating to that ailing tire, another steel belt, add an extra mile or two to carry that car to the nearest service station before something gives away, before the hour of his or her test arrives without a warning.

May this simple prayer be accepted in the same spirit of kindness and true goodwill with which it was inspired and typed for the benefit of all.

May your wheels be turning, always, at least to the next exit.

Amen.