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My wife, Karen, speaks of “God Nudges” from time to time.  Usually the nudges reference something she read out of her Bible, some verse out of Jeremiah or Corinthians, out of devotional books, or the like.  However, I recently discovered that sometimes these nudges have secular roots.  Like from The New York Times.

I’m a morning reader of The New York Times, and I read an article some months ago on unfinished business. The article advised me to think carefully, especially at my age, of any unfinished business that would likely stay unfinished upon my death.

As I was thinking about the article, I was reminded of a long past work associate I had treated badly.  We hadn’t talked in 25 years.  Although I thought about my work associate from time-to-time, maybe twice a year, our relationship remained estranged until a few weeks ago.

After reading the article in the New York Times, I wrote my old work associate a note and apologized for my behavior.

This brought a return note that acknowledged our estranged friendship and suggested we go out for coffee.  We did, and it was a wonderful thing.  We caught up on our lives, our kids, our grand kids and our work friends.  We agreed that in the spring, we would get together again.  But mostly, our time over coffee was an opportunity for me to say, “I’m sorry for the way I acted.”

I believe The New York Times article was a strong nudge from God saying, “Larry, you’ve been a jerk for a lot of years, do something about it.”  I did, and I’m happy to have done so.

Be alert for God nudges, sometimes they come from secular places.