That Awful Hangover!

Someone I know said that she woke up with a hangover this morning after being out with a friend on Christmas Eve, but that she was blessed that she woke up. As hard as it was, I did not comment that, yes indeed, she is truly blessed to have awakened.

Many years ago when I was a young person, I awoke many mornings with the most excruciating headaches, or more to the point, hangovers. This started in my teen years when I would drive a car load of drunk friends home from a popular dive about thirty miles from where we lived. I was as drunk as anyone, and I can remember seeing three center lines on the dark highway. I would choose the middle line, and stay to the right. It's a wonder I didn't kill someone, either in my car or in another. I was blessed to have awakened the next morning.

In later years, after I married and had a family, I still drank alcohol to extreme. We lived in a "bedroom community" that partied during the summer months after all the children had been put to bed. The houses were open due to no air conditioning so we could hear everything. But, it didn't stop most of us from being even more irresponsible and drinking to excess. Many nights are lost to memory, and, again, it's a wonder something didn't happen to one of our children, and, more to the point, I was blessed to wake up the next morning.

You understand, I'm sure, what I'm saying. I could say something to that person about her observation, and that she surely doesn't understand how true it is that she has been blessed with, at least, one more day. But, my comment would fall on deaf ears. I would not have listened, and neither would she.

What is it about youth that makes us think we are smarter than experience and wisdom? Maybe we believe that's for someone else, it will never happen to me.

And, why didn't it happen to me? I believe it is just what my friend said; I was blessed. You see, in later years, when I grew a brain, and it wasn't pickled, I made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. He knew that I would, so He protected me all those years of irresponsible behavior. He kept me safe to be His child and heir.

Unfortunately,  He doesn't do that for all. Many lives, young and old, have been lost on our highways due to drunkenness. Perhaps it's because He knows who will and who won't accept His gift. I can't answer for certain, but that is what I believe, and I am so very grateful and joyful that He called to me, and I accepted Him as Lord and Savior.

So, did you drink too much last night? Will you drink too much next week on New Years Eve?  Will you be one of those that wake up blessed the next morning? Or will you be one of those that don't wake up at all?  Please, please, accept that wonderful gift Jesus wants to give you. That gift is, indeed, the greatest blessing of all.