It's a bird. It's a plane. It's a bug...

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

It occurred to me today that I spend a lot of time doing things out of habit. Driving to work: left exit -- my daughter's work; right exit -- my work. Making dinner. Reading blogs. I don't have to expel any effort because they're all things I've done over and over again.

After a horrible morning, I drove out to meet my daughter for lunch. I had zoned out a little and I was thinking about everything but my actual driving. I was contemplating what I would get at Fazoli's, what groceries I should buy this week, the kitchen clean-up I had started before I left the house. It didn't even occur to me that I was on auto-pilot until "bam", a winged insect flew into the car and smacked me right in the middle of my forehead. I was totally stunned. The insect, unfortunately, suffered a fate far worse and his dead body slid to my lap, where I flicked it off onto the floor.

All of a sudden, I was totally aware of everything going on around me. I was alert. I was on-guard, which was a good thing because, evidently, the insect wasn't dead. He decided to crawl up my lap one more time. As a former animal rights person, I probably shouldn't say this but I wasn't having any of that. I'm fairly certain he is no longer with us.

That bug made me think about the past two years that I've been in Virginia. I've spent a lot of time here being on auto-pilot, just existing and wallowing a little, or maybe a lot, in my misery. Instead of being grateful for the things I do have (life, a roof over my head, a great daughter, a job), I mentally keep replaying what I don't have or what I gave up when I moved to Virginia. Poor, pitiful me.

Basically, if I read 1 Peter 5:8 right, I was on the way to being devoured. But, that was yesterday. Today, I'm alert and ready. Thank God for that bug. Sometimes all it takes is a good smack in the forehead!