Just One Way

As you know by now, I'm totally addicted to my fancy-schmancy new camera! I'm trying to bring it with me pretty much everywhere because it seems that I find photo-worthy scenes everywhere I go lately.

At stop lights, I'll pull out my camera and say, "Clara! Ben! Tell me when the light is green!" It'll give them something good to tell their therapist some day...he he he :)

When I was driving today, this sign caught my eye. Not for it's beauty, but because it reminded me of another one of those "lessons from my kids" that I read recently. So I snapped the picture. I guess now is as good a time as any to share the lesson with you...

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It seems that God teaches me many lessons while I’m driving in the car. Maybe it’s because He has a captive audience!

I was driving to the store recently with Benjamin and Clara buckled safely in the backseat. They were happily trying to sing along with “The Farmer in the Dell”, when all of a sudden, Benjamin announced, “Mommy, turn THAT way!” Clara, wanting to take a stand of her own, declared, “Mommy, turn THIS way!” while pointing her finger in the opposite direction that her brother was pointing.

I grinned and announced that I was driving the car, so I would choose which way to go. I undoubtedly turned “that” way at some point and “this” way at another. Did I choose which direction to go based on how much I loved each of my children? Did I choose based on who was asking the most persistently? Did I choose based on how well each of them had behaved that day? No – of course not! I chose which direction to drive based on where I was going!

It suddenly dawned on me that I am just a child buckled safely in the backseat of my Father’s car. He knows where we’re headed, and He knows how to get there. How many times do I ask for Him to turn a particular way that would lead me in the wrong direction? When he gently reminds me that He is driving, and He will decide which way to go, how do I react? I’m embarrassed to confess that many times I behave the same as my 2 or 3 year old when they don’t get what they want!

I’m lead to wonder…why pray at all? Why ask God to turn a certain way or heal a certain person or clear the rainy skies…why ask if He will just do as He pleases anyway?

Well, I don’t presume to know the mind of God. But I do know that as a parent, I long desperately for my children to communicate with me. Many times they’re telling me something completely silly…but it’s important and real to them, so I want to hear all about it! Many times they’re requesting something that would be downright harmful to them (candy for each meal, for example), but I still want to hear about it.

One of the most significant reasons they’re important to me is because these moments are perfect “teachable moments”. Why no candy for breakfast, they wonder? "Well, because I want you to be healthy and strong and to feel well today."

But the bottom line is this: I love my children. I strap them in safely, I give them a snack to much on, I drive carefully, we talk, we sing...we just enjoy each other's company. Sometimes they pitch a fit over wanting more food or a different song or because they want me to turn left instead of right. Do I kick them out of the car? Of course not. In those instances I'm just thankful they're buckled in tight...I drive the car in silence...and look forward to finally getting us all home.


Edited To Say: See HERE for Part Two of "Just One Way"