Three years ago, I locked the keys to my car in the trunk. It’s not something I am prone to doing, and it could not have come at a worse time. I was on my way to a job interview. Try as I may, I could not get into my car. It ended up costing me $70 to have locksmith come out and get me into my car. I had to reschedule the interview and did not end up getting the job.

I later found employment selling used cars and the incident was forgotten, marked off as an anomaly until one day last year. I left my keys in the pocket of a jacket and locked them in the car. I didn’t have to pay to get them out this time, because it happened in my home town. It only cost me an entire afternoon, riding the bus home to get my wife’s keys and going back to retrieve my car.

Twice was enough. That same afternoon I had duplicate keys made and bought a magnetic box to go on the car. I could not have predicted the outcome. It is now a regular occurrence that I lock the keys in my car. In the back of my mind, I know I have help. I have come to depend on those keys being there.

In a way, I am diminished. I no longer have to depend on my own awareness, and there is no way back, but this is the point. How many times in our lives, do we pick up a crutch, put on a bandage, wrap ourselves in blankets and just hold on to them until we no longer are able to fend for ourselves.

There are times in a life when everyone needs help. We must just be aware of that which would ensnare us. It takes greater courage to break the shackles of bondage, than to remain free.