With an hour and 20 minutes total drive time, 5 days a week, to take Leah to school and pick her up, I see many vehicles on the roadway. As I drive along, I see many people driving in the fast lane and not passing. Today seemed especially bad. Maybe because it’s Friday, or because some think it’s optional- or maybe it’s just that they’ve got a lot on their minds. Whatever the case, it seemed to be a struggle just to get down the road.
Last school year I was beginning to wonder if I was experiencing mild road rage. I’d kick the ole V8 in to high gear and scoot on past. I would gripe to myself for way too long, or until I came upon the next person poking along in the passing lane. Finally I realized I was literally driving myself crazy over something I can’t do anything about.
So today, when I saw those people I was having to pass in the slow lane, and those people I had to try to cut in front of to take my left turn, I had to remind myself: it’s not about what they’re doing, it’s about how I react when dealing with what they’re doing. Christian life can be the same way. Sometimes when we’re traveling to our destination (Heaven), we come up on those that are in the wrong lane. Sometimes we come up on people that we have to work our way around just to be able to make the right turn. We have to be careful to not kick it in to high gear and pass them by angrily, but to be patient, just as God is patient with us. I know many times when I’m driving in unfamiliar territory, I’ve been honked at, passed or even worse.
2 Peter 3:9 NKJV says, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Toward the end of last school year I’d gotten a lot better about just doing what I had to do and getting on down the road. (That almost $200 speeding ticket probably helped.) As the new school year is fresh, I am reminded once again that I need to be patient. We are called to have the same character of our Lord, meaning at times we must suffer long on the road of life. Sometimes we may slow down, or even get lost, as we head toward our destination. We may end up getting in someone else’s way and find we need that grace as well.
Thanks for reading! Drive safely!