As I drove my daughter to her bus stop on the Upper East Side one morning this week, I found myself stuck behind a garbage truck.
Normally, before I turn onto any street in the mornings, I check to see if there's a garbage truck. I hate getting stuck behind them as they slowly plod along. But on this particular morning, despite my quick check, the garbage truck outsmarted me, and what do you know - there I am inching along behind it. I tried to reverse but there were already a number of cars behind me.
It was 8:09, one minute before she needed to be at her bus, and there was no way we would make it in time. As we crept along behind the truck, I tried calling the bus driver, but after the tenth try I realized he must have his phone off.
I was frustrated. Very frustrated. I was in a big rush to get back to the office. I had a busy day planned without any leeway for unexpected fumbles. I had lots of important meetings scheduled, dozens of phone calls to return, emails to catch up on and people to help. But as I sat there behind the giant lumbering garbage truck, there was absolutely nothing I could do about any of it.
So I got to thinking.
It's at moments like these that we realize we are not in control. We may think we run our lives, we may think we're in control, but then along come these moments to show us that it's G-d in the driver's seat.
We think we run our businesses, make successful deals and pay our employees on time. We think we're in full control of our lives - our successes and our failures - until something comes along to remind us that G-d is running the show, not us.
In this week's Torah portion we read the first of the 10 commandments, "I am the L-rd, your G-d." According to Chassidic teaching, it specifically says "your G-d" to teach us that He is with us every step of the way, wherever we go, whichever path we take. This empowers us to search for G-d everywhere we go and in everything we do. Even as we go through our day-to-day activities, we are on the lookout for Him.
In the end, we did miss the bus, it was long gone. But, I learned an invaluable lesson. I'd say it was worth it.