A real life Snow White moment

“I almost died today.” Four girls’ heads whipped around at the Starbucks counter to stare at me and I realized what I had just said. I guess that’s not a normal thing you hear people say over coffee huh?

But on a beautiful Sunday afternoon I had an almost Snow White moment. Let me tell you about it. I went to my office after church to finish a few things up after the service. I had packed an apple for a snack. And not just any apple, this was a beautiful apple, a honey crisp that I had regretfully been dreaming about during the offering.

And here I sit on a beautiful day and I took my first bite of this wonderful apple and that’s when it all went wrong. A piece had broken off and had lodged itself in my throat. I’m choking, I thought. I can’t believe it, I’m actually choking. I didn’t know what to do, there is no one around and I can’t do the himelique and I’m pretty sure you can’t do it on yourself and I was beginning to freak. I opened my mouth and realized I could take a small breath. The apple was only blocking half my air canal but I could still take a breath. I took small, short breaths trying desperately not to move the apple so it wouldn’t get stuck even worse. As the tears started to fill in my eyes, I started to think what to do. If I cough will it move, if I stand up will it get worse. I took a chance, and stood up and took a deep breath. I think my airway opened up as my lungs expanded and I could feel a release as the apple moved and it was clear.

I walked down the empty hallway of our offices, with tears streaming down my face and began to comprehend what had just happened. I could have died. Right then. And then I stopped and I prayed. Because I had to thank the Lord for keeping me alive. In that moment more than ever before I understood what it meant that each breath is a gift from God. He kept me alive as I was sitting in my office chair, and each small half breath I took was only from His grace.

And so, on a Sunday afternoon I was almost a Disney Princess. Worst case scenario I would have been the 2019 Snow White when they found me in the office with one bite from the gorgeous apple. But the story was not that tragic and I was happy to tell the tale, maybe a little too loud in a Starbucks later that afternoon. But this was such a wonderful reminder to me that each day is a gift and we are never promised tomorrow. We aren’t even promised our next breath. But I will praise Him as it’s His breath in our lungs.