Driving Lessons
Blog / Produced by The High Calling
As we enter Holy week, I am taking stock of my Lenten promises. This is the season that I shine up my servant-heart. I have been practicing humility.
At first glance, inventory doesn’t look too bad. I’ve been doing great at church, at work, even at home. This ministry of foot washing has been extremely fulfilling. But there is one place I still need to do a little work.
In the driver’s seat.
Take the other day, for instance. On my evening commute, it was difficult to ignore the cute compact car riding my bumper. My rear view mirror revealed a young girl who was close enough that I could see her jaw working her chewing gum. I couldn't move over to let the sweet thing pass due to three lanes of heavy rush hour traffic. I pushed down harder on my gas pedal--coming dangerously close to the 70s Buick in front of me. There was a man wearing a hat driving the Buick. We all know what that means. He should have hung up his driving keys ten years prior. Not once did he glance in his rear view to see the fire-breathing suburbanite breathing down his neck. Didn't look left. Didn't look right. He was too intent on what was in front.
The sweet thing would have to wait.
But she couldn’t do that. She swerved over two lanes to the far right, passed a couple cars in the slow lane, and swerved back into the lane beside me. I knew she was positioning herself to make her move. If she swerved in front of me, my two-second cushionwould be shot. Old Hat stubbornly refused to realize there was a war raging around him. I edged up closer, successfully blocking Chewing Gum’s chances. Haha! Big truck just up ahead! She slammed on the breaks and slowed to a crawl.
Not to be deterred, Chewing Gum veered back in behind me--so close I think I heard the crack of chewing gum. I glanced furtively in my rear view. She happily chomped away. The crazy driving seemed to be her comfort zone. Meanwhile, my blood pressure was in the danger zone.
That was when I came to my senses. What in the world am I doing?
I gently released the pressure on my gas pedal and edged over a lane. I watched as Chewing Gum successfully maneuvered around me, switched lanes and passed Old Hat in the middle lane--only to shift back over in front of him. Then, with a burst of speed, she was gone.
I drove the speed limit the rest of the way home. Humbly slowed down to let others in front of me when needed. I stopped short of the intersection and gestured for waiting cars to go ahead of me.
If driving is a metaphor for life, we all need to take some serious stock.
The perils of the road are obvious. The road of life is no less perilous. Am I willing to risk it all for so little? For pride?
When all I am concerned about is getting ahead, I am as bad as Old Hat--refusing to look around me to see the other people in this world. Other people who are hurting. Other people who are in need.
I still need more practice, but no matter what road I turn down in life, I’m doing my best to drive with love.
Happy Holy Week, friends. Happy driving.