They are grown now. All four married. Responsible for their own spiritual growth. But things keep happening in life that make me think, "There's a spiritual lesson in this." So here it is - my blog. If they want to read it, they can. If other people want to peak in, they can. And I will bask in the joy of freely writing down the simple spiritual lessons in everyday occurences. No eye rolling, please.
I am currently at a writers' conference in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. The last hour or two of the drive up from Alabama was glorious. Except for when I encountered the road work on interstate 40. The actual area inhabited by highway workers came to approximately 100 square feet, no big deal. But the "Reduce Speed Ahead" sign came 3 miles before that tiny area, and the "Right Lane Ends - Merge Left" sign came 2 miles before the cones in fact closed off the lane.
Well, when the sign said merge left, most drivers merged left. Due to the mountains, we couldn't see around the next bend, so we trusted the sign and obeyed. Of course, this automatically made our speed reduce, so we were putt-putting down the left lane when this red truck goes flying by in the right lane. Boy, was I irritated. But I took a deep breath and chalked it up to the fact that his mother probably never said, "There's a spiritual lesson in this, Johnny."
I had just settled back down when an old, light blue chevy motored past in the right lane, belching acrid smoke. My hackles started rising, and I thought, "These back country people think they can just stay over there in the right lane and then break in front of everybody who's been putt-putting all this time. How rude!"
About that time we drove around the bend, and the highway straightened out in front of us for a half mile or so. I could see that the right lane was open for all that distance, but the only vehicles in that lane were the red truck and blue chevy. Well, I said to myself, it's Sunday, so maybe the workmen aren't working and they took down the cones. And maybe these two local drivers are the only ones who knew that. So of course I pulled over and stepped on the gas.
No sooner had I relaxed into the luxury of sixty miles per hour than we turned a bend and the cones loomed just ahead. I noticed the red truck had already found a place in the left lane, but the chevy was still trying to stick his nose in where people didn't want him. I suddenly felt chastised by every car that had remained in the left lane and wondered if anyone would be gracious enough to let me in. Out of the blue came the thought, "There's a spiritual lesson in this, Joy!"
Now that I am writing about it, I find several lessons, but I'll only share two.
- God sent Jesus to be our Savior. He warned us that eternal damnation is coming. Some of us heeded the warning and accepted redemption through Jesus. We moved over into God's lane. Sometimes that lane slows us down, keeps us at a safer speed. But then we see the unsaved zooming by, and we wonder if we really needed to rush over to God's lane. We resent that the lost succeed and flourish while we, the rule-followers, have to wait on God.
- We may judge the people in the right lane and puff up about our superior behavior and question the fairness of the eleventh hour conversion. Why would God let that person into the left lane even though the person didn't move over until the last minute?
I guess for the same reason He welcomes me back into His lane after I have strayed. "The Lord is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (I Peter 3:9b). I'm not saying a person can lose his salvation once he is truly saved. I'm just saying that all of us earth-dwellers traveling on the highway of life need grace. From God, and from each other.
Love you,Joy
