Changing Lanes
It never fails
I was on my way back from an appointment, not too far from home when traffic on C-470 slowed way down. As I came through the slowdown, I discovered that there was no accident, no bottleneck and no police activity. In fact there was nothing ahead that would be any kind of reason for the slowdown. Traffic just slowed down. Maddening, right?
I’m much more of a patient driver these days (wasn’t always the case), but I still like to move efficiently through traffic. So when I noticed the lane next to me was moving better, I switched lanes. The exact moment I switched…you guessed it…that lane slowed down.
Now, this wasn’t my first time experiencing this. In fact, I’ve come to wonder if traffic has some sort of collective consciousness that intentionally works against me. For real! It never fails! I knew that if I switched back to my original lane which was now moving along very well, it would suddenly stop. It happens every time.
A Metaphor of Life
There have been times in my life when I doubted my decision-making capabilities. I’m talking about times when I felt like every decision I made slowed me down or set me back.
Relationships, jobs, ministry, investing, the extra donut…you name it. I made a decision and it didn’t go as expected at all. This can lead to some pretty intense discouragement. Maybe even feelings of giving up.
Have you ever felt like that? I hope I’m not the only one.
What do you do when you feel like you’re incapable of making good decisions?
God is my Co-pilot?
Back in the 80’s there was a popular bumper sticker that said, “God is my co-pilot”. I used to think that missed the mark—that God was supposed to be the pilot and I was the co-pilot. But I’ve come to believe that God lets us drive the car. We have command of the gas, brake and steering wheel. But God has command of me.
He’s not sitting in the driver’s seat. Neither is he navigating from the passenger’s seat, and he’s certainly not a backseat driver. He’s actually much bigger than my vehicle. I hope you know by now that the vehicle represents our lives.
Continuing with the traffic analogy…
God is present everywhere. In my vehicle, on the road and moving through the hair-pulling traffic. If faith really does guide my life, then I have an assurance that all the things that touch or influence my life are part of the plan. Everything around me is part of what’s leading me to who and where I’m supposed to be.
A good opportunity to switch lanes (make a big move in life) may result in what seems like a setback. But if your life is surrendered to faith’s guidance, we know that God is in the traffic, on the road and in your vehicle. This gives us great assurance to know that we will reach our destination.
It can also go a long way to reduce how much we yell at other cars while banging on the steering wheel. (Isn’t it nuts how traffic can bring out the worst in us?) The word for this is patience. (Sorry…I didn’t mean to cuss like that.)
Patience is a Virtue
Patience is the virtue we wish to avoid at all costs because it means we have something to be patient through. We don’t want anything to happen that requires us to be patient.
Patience is the ability to calm ourselves down, step back and take a look at the bigger picture. It’s the realization that what’s happening to me is not God or the universe working against me. Rather, it is part of what’s making me. My response—how I drive the vehicle—is an opportunity for maturity and growth.
Think of some recent situations you’ve encountered that required patience. Or maybe a time when patience would have been the better response. (Hey…you’ll get no judgement from me!)
How did exercising patience affect the situation?
On the flip side…if you weren’t so patient…
How would exercising patience have helped to make the situation better? Or perhaps make you better?
It’s In All Of Us
Patience isn’t something we need to learn. It’s in all of us. The problem is we don’t exercise this muscle very much. But if you and I could be a little slower to react, think a little bit and try to see a bigger picture, I’m sure things will turn out better.
