there are no accidents
So says Master Oogway from Kung Fu Panda, along with a number of real life spiritual teachers. This last Friday was a rather long and intense day for me, and illustrative of this point, I think. Which is why I’ve decided to share it with you.
It starts with the events of Thursday evening. Upon arriving home after work, I turned the air conditioner down, as it was 78 in the house and in the low 90’s outside. Unlike most Thursdays, after being home for an hour or so, I changed clothes and headed out the door for Rhythm and Blooms at Riverbanks. Arriving home, it was quickly apparent that the fan was still blowing, but the air wasn’t cold – it was still 77 degrees in the house. I cracked open a couple windows, shut down the air conditioner and fan, and turned on the ceiling fans.
The following morning I had the HVAC people out to look at the AC. The outside fan that keeps other things cool enough to run had finally burned out. This is a rather expensive repair, costing several hundred dollars. During the repair process, the repairman asked me about neighbors owning dogs, he said there was a black dog out there with him. I had seen a fairly sizable black dog roaming the area on many occasions over the last 2 – 3 years, so I was not particularly worried about, thinking it would move on as it always does.
After about two hours or so, the repairman tells me he has some final work to do that will still take some time, but I can go and they will send me the bill. So I grab my stuff and head out the door, and I am confronted not by one of the neighborhood strays, but a little black puppy with a single spot of white on one it’s back feet. It was very friendly and, to me, obviously very young, probably 2 – 3 months old. It was obviously used to people, and had likely escaped from someone and been wandering around for several days, if not longer. I could feel it’s ribs when I petted it.
I couldn’t leave it to wander around, as it was starving, and also quite likely thirsty. I went inside and poured a small bowl of my dog’s food out and another bowl of water. After a couple minutes of coaxing, I was able to lure him into the back yard where he’d be safe until I got home that night and could figure out what to do with him. He was both hungry and thirsty, and went after the water after only a couple bites of food.
As I was leaving, the HVAC guy mentioned he knew someone who might be interested in taking him, and I said that would be ok, I couldn’t keep him and my choice was to find him a home or find an agency that could. He said he’d leave a note on the door if he or his friend took him so I’d know.
So I went on to work, showing up about 2 ½ hours later than usual. Even with taking my lunch time out, I still needed to make up a couple hours, so I was at work 2 hours later than normal. I had a lot to do, and I was still thinking about the dog, and the expense of getting the AC fixed. By the time I gopt home Friday night, I was mentally and emotionally exhausted from the roller coaster that was Friday.
Fotunately, this story has a happy ending. When I got home, I didn’t see a note on the door, so I looked in the backyard, but I didn’t see him. I went and got the mail, and there was a letter from the IRS – great, I thought, perfect ending to an up and down day. When I got to the door, I found a note on a business card stuck in the door I couldn’t see from the car - the AC guy found a home for him. As for my perfect ending, the IRS letter turned out to be a notice that I’d made an error on my taxes and overpaid – soon I will be getting a check from the IRS for the overage, it will cover over half what I paid for the AC repair.
I am convinced that the entire reason my AC went out when it did was so I’d be home on Friday morning when the puppy came to my house, the AC guy would see it, and he would end up going to whatever home he is at now. You can argue coincidence all you want, but me, I believe. I was a conduit for something greater than myself, though I didn’t know it until later. It just makes me kind of wonder – what other things am I being a conduit for that I don’t know about? Just something to think about,