One of the worst things to see when you are traveling on the interstate is a series of cars ahead of you suddenly pumping the brakes and the accompanying red lights that signal traffic is stopped ahead. Well that happened to me yesterday as I was headed up towards Lynchburg, Virginia to deliver our granddaughter, Ivy, to her mother and siblings. Ivy was asleep in the back seat, snuggled up in a blanket, counting sheep as best as she could be considering the comfort level of sleeping in the back seat of a Honda Accord at 8:00 in the morning, when just as mentioned above, the brake lights ahead of me shone bright red. My immediate reaction was "Oh no, we are going to be stuck in traffic for the next hour or two just sitting here creeping along at the speed of a snail!" Much to my chagrin, the delay was only a slight pause in the flow of traffic as a tractor trailer tire had gone flat and shredded across the interstate, creating the need to slow to a crawl, move into one open lane, and navigate the large rubber obstacles scattered across I-81 north. In my mind, I had already convinced myself that the brake lights ahead were a signal of a long, dreary stretch of bumper to bumper traffic, moving inches at a time, and extending the trip by hours at best. That was not to be the case on this particular Saturday morning! Thank God!
Often times figurative warning lights of various kinds go off letting us know that danger is just ahead. Our immediate reaction, similar to my brake lights experience, is to go directly into worry and despair mode. Injuries, strained relationships, unexpected bills, and unanticipated situations cause us to stress and worry even before the actual experience takes place. Sometimes the event does occur and at other times the wave of despair that we created in our minds turns out to be a ripple in a baby pool.
Our reactions and responses are products of something much deeper than my worry that our trip might be extended courtesy of a traffic jam. When our faith is strong, we confidently drive forward encouraged with the understanding that all things happen for a reason, and it is our responsibility to seek out what God wants us to gain through whatever is happening in our life at that particular moment. When we do not rely on our faith in life's situations then the experience itself dominates our thoughts and it is impossible to see God's will and purpose due to our self-created despair and worry.
For example, when the brake lights beamed danger ahead, it didn't have to be signaling a bad thing for our trip, in actuality the delay and stoppage of traffic would have provided Ivy and I some time to play a road game, or just have a more one to one time to talk and share some good news about God and our relationships with Him in life's trials and tribulations. Wouldn't that be a much better use of my time and the time that had been created through whatever stopped the traffic ahead? Praying for potential traffic accident victims ahead, using the time to map out a new ministry that you have been wanting to start, or taking some time to make a list of friends and family to pray for and then pray for them are also much better things to do rather than worry and stress.
The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not worry. Learn to pray about everything. Give thanks to God as you ask Him for what you need. The peace of God is much greater than the human mind can understand. This peace will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (NLV) What a far greater response to adversity in praying rather than worrying. The next time you feel like you are getting ready to run into a traffic jam on life's interstate, stop, pray, and reflect. You may just find that what you are driving into is not near as bad as you want to think, and that God's purpose and plan for your life is so much bigger than anything we can imagine on our own.
Coach Carter
No comments:
Post a Comment