Last Wednesday, my wife and I were invited to a Christmas recital at our granddaughter’s grade school. My wife promised to take a sick friend to a doctor’s appointment that day, so I went to the recital alone.

My granddaughter lives and goes to kindergarten in Wheaton, so it takes about an hour to get to her school.

After I left my house in Dyer and as I was on the expressway on the way to the school, I suddenly felt a sense of panic. I could not find my phone in my coat pocket. This concerned me a lot as I promised to meet my son at his home and then travel from there together to the recital. I told my son if the traffic was bad, and I did not get to his home by 9:30 a.m., to leave without me, and to send me the address to the school on my phone.

It happened to be raining that morning and traffic was very slow. As I reached for my phone to call my son, I could not find my phone.

How would I tell him that I think I would be late? How could I find the school address as it was in a text on my phone? How could I tell my wife where I was if my son was to call her as I had no way to contact her? She would be worried if he called her. His experience at the recital would be tainted worrying about why I did not show up thinking I might have had an accident. I wasn’t even sure if there were still pay phones somewhere that I could find to make a call.

As it happened, I searched around and did find the phone slipped into my coat lining and I was able to call and get to the concert on time.

As I thought about all of this, I found myself reflecting on how lucky we are to have cell phones today to help relieve anxiety in today’s world that help us stay in contact with loved ones.

I also thought about how much this relates to our faith journey. What is it that gives us peace and a sense of security on a journey in life? How do we stay on course when life throws us a curve? It is using prayer and inviting Jesus in to help us when we think we might be lost on the way. Nothing else can help us in the same profound way.

The noun, rumination, means a deep, considered thought about something.

-By Deacon Tom Gryzbek