You think to yourself, “Oh, the nerve of some people who won’t wait their turn. People like this cause the rest of us to have to wait longer. Who do they think they are? What will you do?…..let them in, or pull your car up two inches away from the bumper of the car in front of you so that Mr. (or Mrs.) entitled knows that it’s not your car they are getting in front of!
So…..it is Sunday morning and you are heading to church and you are merging onto the highway in the left lane. You think to yourself how nice it is to drive on Sunday mornings when there are not so many cars around. As you come onto the highway you notice a car coming up behind you at a high rate of speed. Next thing you know you can’t tell where your car ends and their car begins. They are riding your bumper so close that they could change the radio station in your car. They flash their high beams at you.
There is actually plenty of room on your right for them to pass or for you to move over. What will you do? Slow down? Move over and then tailgate them? Flash your high beams at them? Give them a dirty look as they pass you by?
So….you are in the middle lane of a highway on your way to Lancaster to enjoy a nice meal at Shady Maple. The radio is blaring Amazing Grace and your thinking about how good God is to you. Then you notice someone in the right lane coming up behind you who is only three miles per hour away from setting the land speed record. You also notice that traffic is slowing in front of you and in the right lane, but the left lane is cruising along. You know right away that Mr. Speed-demon is going to try a death defying maneuver and try to squeeze his car by you and cut you off in the process so that he can get into the quick moving left lane. What will you do? Speed up so he can’t get in front of you? Move into the left lane yourself but keep your considerably slower speed so that he now becomes the bumper-rider from the above paragraph? Sing Amazing Grace louder while giving him the evil eye as he cuts you off?
There are two reasons why I shared these scenarios with you and they both come from my own experiences and the meditations of my own heart. First, I want to share with you that how we drive and what we think of people while we are driving really does have something to say about how we think of people in general. The sanctuary of our car seems to release the social filters we have in place that censor so much of what we think of people. You disagree? Well, next time you are driving, see what kind of thoughts about others get past your filters. See what conclusions you come to, based upon how people in the cars around you appear, or what kind of car they are driving, or how they are driving it. If you are like so many people, the meditations of your heart may not be too pleasing in The Lord’s sight.
Second, consider the challenge I have been putting before myself now for about a year to drive with grace. What does that mean? Well, it means that you are going to treat people on the road in ways that are much better than they seemingly deserve. So, the women who is squeezing into the merge lane?
Why? Why do all these things? My answer? Practice. Practice for when we are out of our little automotive sanctuaries and rubbing shoulders with flesh and blood. Driving affords some of the greatest opportunities to extend grace and if such loving responses are offered on the road, you will be surprised how they spill into life in the office, or the home, or the grocery store. The other reason to drive with grace is to meditate upon the grace shown by God to you. The drivers referenced above don’t deserve to merge into the lane, get by when they are on your bumper or pass in front of you on their way to their destination, but you and I don’t deserve the grace that has been shown to us. Shall we not look for opportunities to share grace with others? The last reason to drive with grace is this — our hearts needs it. All those less then nice thoughts that are flourishing while we are behind the wheel? Not good…and not pleasing in God’s sight. No, they need to be replaced with peaceful thoughts and with goodwill
towards others. Easy to do? Nope. But God can help you to drive with grace, not like you are in a race, and in so doing make you a more gracious person.
For Him,