By RTF Staff Writer Abbie Miller

So, if we’re gonna be friends, there’s something y’all need to know about me. I’m a klutz. A royal, hardcore, Annie-bar-the-door kind of klutz.

During the course of my two-week globetrotting adventure, I managed to complete the following feats of fantastic clumsiness:

• Gash two toes on a rock on my way into the ocean
• Stub my toe on a bathroom sink (not many people can say that!)
• Slam my finger in a bedroom door
• Fall out of a Hummer H2
• Stub my toe on a bed (yes, a bed.)

There are more, I’m sure, but I can’t remember them. (Probably, I subconsciously blotted them from my memory.) But the weird thing is, when I sit back and think about the surrounding context of these mishaps… I was always trying to do something good. But I ended up rushing or being careless in my full-tilt excitement.

For example, I was trotting with reckless abandon toward the Pacific when I slammed my toes on that rock.

When I fell out of the Hummer (an epic sight, let me tell you), I was arriving at my family’s house, and rushing to see them.

And I was painting 12-foot walls when I had the run-in with the bathroom sink. (I was climbing onto the counter, if you must know.)

Each time, I was trying to do something great, but I wound up hurting myself and slowing my progress. Funny how that works. I realized that we often do this in our lives, too – as we relate to others, or as we chart our own courses in life.

We may have the greatest intentions in reaching out to someone, or in trying to pluck a friend out of trouble. But it’s easy to get ahead of ourselves and forge on without taking time to think, pray or plan our words. When that happens, we can bruise the ones we love.

We may approach life giddily, running to embrace each new opportunity, not realizing that the good thing might not always be the best thing. When we try to run ahead of God, our feet tangle, and we end up in a crumbled heap on the ground.

We as people remind me of floppy-eared puppy dogs, sort of. Anxious, excited, eager to please and do good. But hopelessly clumsy on our own.

So slow down.  Think and pray about your next step, next word, next action. God can replace our blundering paws with beautiful feet that bring love to the world around us.

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Abbie is 18, lives in the country with her weird and wonderful family, and loves to read, write, play the violin and eat Krispy Kreme doughnuts. (Not at the same time.) She also loves God, kids, cooking, baking, umbrellas, and the color green. As she grows toward God, she writes about the strange, hilarious and wonderful journey at her blog, Abbie Writes.