When you can’t see the road, stay in your lane

Wichita doesn’t have traffic. We think we do, but we don’t. You haven’t experienced traffic until you’ve driven in Houston or Washington D.C. or any of the larger cities around the U.S. No, Wichita just has busier times than others….. until there’s a wreck.

And there was a wreck somewhere in front of me yesterday evening as I was in a hurry to get across town. Traffic backed up for about a mile, and we came to a standstill for about 20 minutes. And as I sat there and marveled at the crazy drivers switching lanes at every opportunity (running the risk that they would cause another wreck), I couldn’t help but think about how often we are in similar situations in our lives.

Something happens out in front of us–too far away for us to see the details–but we see the results. The results being the disruption of our carefully laid plans. So what do we do? We compensate. We switch lanes. We scurry and scramble and strategize in order to get ahead. And what happens?

That’s right. You realize that you jumped into the wrong lane too late. Or you realize Plan B isn’t as feasible in actual practice as you thought. Either way, you realize that you should have just stayed put. In all your shifting and scrambling, you ended up spending time and effort to get ahead when you didn’t even know which direction you’d end up needing to go.

The view from my dashboard on Kellogg yesterday, Wichita, KS

Today’s verses are James 5:7-8.

Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.

The Bible has a lot to say about being patient, about waiting. And I’m not good at either one. I can do it, but I tend to grumble about it. But being patient and waiting for God to make the first move makes up a great deal of the Christian life. The Bible tells us to wait, wait, wait on God. Don’t rush ahead of Him. Wait for Him to move and then move with Him.

Now that doesn’t mean His actions should surprise us. More often than not, you can identify God working in your life. You just have to keep your eyes open. You have to be in a place in your relationship with Him where you recognize His fingerprints and respond to His voice. But even when you’re in that place, if you get ahead of Him, if you start thinking you know better than He does, you’re going to get yourself in trouble.

You’ll be like the people in the lanes around me in traffic yesterday. They couldn’t see what was ahead of them. They just wanted to do something. They weren’t happy staying where they were, waiting to see where they needed to go. They took it on themselves to forge their own path.

And, don’t get me wrong. Forging your own path is often a good idea. I’m all for it. But when you try to forge your own path and you go in a direction God hasn’t blessed, you run the risk of forging a path right off a cliff.

So what’s the point? Don’t get ahead of God. Don’t start thinking you have life all figured out and that you know which direction the compass is pointing.

It’s like runners lined up to start a race. They’re all waiting for that pistol to sound or for a horn to blow. That’s the signal that they can move, start running and run for all they’re worth. And that’s what we need to wait for from God before we jump into action.

Jump into action before He’s said go and you might crash and burn. But don’t hesitate once you’ve heard the starter pistol. Once the door is open and you have the chance to do what God has called you to do, don’t wait or you’ll fall behind.

God promised that He’d come back for us. And He’s promised a lot of things in between now and then, and He will keep every one according to His plans. But He doesn’t need us flailing around trying to make His plan work out ourselves. If anything, we’ll just make ourselves so busy trying to do God’s job that we’ll miss His signal to start running in the first place.

Be patient. Wait and watch for His signal. And when you see it, run like mad.

PS: The real moral of this story is just to stay off Kellogg…..

Keep lice away from your liver

I love language. I love English, I love other languages, and I love trying to make sense of a language I don’t speak in the language I do. I work with some people from Germany, one of whom I’m pretty close to. She and her husband are moving back to Germany this coming Saturday, and Friday is her last official day in the office. I’m going to miss her terribly. What’s more, I’m going to miss our hilarious conversations about language and idiom.

As a fellow lover of languages, my friend and I have had many conversations comparing English to German and vice versa. We had the chance to have lunch together one last time yesterday, so we jumped at it and ran down to our “regular” place, a cozy little restaurant called Caffe Moderne. It was soggy and somewhat nasty outside, not exactly cold but not warm either. I pulled into the parking lot, looking for a space close to the restaurant—not because either of us are lazy but because my friend is about six months pregnant.

I was heading for the parking garage across the plaza, but I thought I’d make one more circuit just in case a spot opened. Well—one did. So I drove up to it and parked. We climbed out and started to go into the restaurant, and this car pulled up behind us, and the lady inside started shouting at us about how we’d stolen her parking space. My first response was horror because I certainly hadn’t intended to do anything of the sort, and I indicated my friend and her obviously pregnant state. The lady’s response shocked me: she shouted, “I don’t care!” and drove off.

Neither of us really knew how to react. I actually felt really bad about it, but I hadn’t seen her waiting for the spot. If she’d been that dead set on it, we certainly wouldn’t have minded giving it to her, but we’re not mind readers. And, seriously, to roll down your window and shout at two strangers about how they stole your parking place? When one of them is obviously pregnant? Really, lady?

Afterward, once my friend and I had calmed down some, we got to talking about how we could have handled it differently. And my friend told me I should have asked her if a louse had crawled across her liver. If it were any other German, I would think they didn’t know English, but my friend is fluent in both, and as much as we love to compare idiom, I knew this had to be something in German.

Ihm ist eine Laus über die Leber gelaufen. Literally it means, “A louse ran across his liver.” It’s used to indicate that someone is in a bad mood. What’s more, it’s used to indicate that someone is in a bad mood about something that doesn’t matter. It’s a problem the size of a louse.

Empty cicada shell on the garage wall at Safe Haven Farm, Haven, KS

Today’s verse is Proverbs 14:29.

People with understanding control their anger;
a hot temper shows great foolishness.

I can sit here and criticize this grouchy woman in the car all day long, but how many times have I been in her shoes? Granted, I’ve never rolled down my window and chastised a pregnant woman for taking my parking place. But how many times have I gotten my undies in a twist over things that don’t matter? How many mole hills have I turned into mountains? How much trouble have I caused myself trying to prepare for something that never happens?

I don’t want to admit how often I get irritated or frustrated by life in general. I’d like to think I’m fairly good at letting stuff roll off, but I’m not nearly as talented at it as I should be. If it were up to me, I’d say I’m probably a better person than the lady in the car because I don’t take out my frustrations on other people. I don’t automatically, selfishly assume that everyone who gets between me and what I want is intentionally trying to hurt me. But I feel that way. Just because I don’t express those feelings out loud doesn’t mean I haven’t felt them, that I haven’t thought them, that my heart hasn’t whispered those things to me and I let myself believe them. So there’s no better person in this circumstance; there’s just one who does a better job of keeping her mouth shut.

So am I saying that we shouldn’t get upset about stuff? Not at all. There are some things in life that are worth speaking up about. There are some instances where you need to speak up and try to stop what is about to happen or to try to prevent something from happening again in the future, and there’s no cookie cutter description to identify those times. You just have to choose them for yourself. That goes back to choosing which hill you want to die on.

But think before you speak. Give yourself a moment to consider what you’re getting upset about before you shoot your mouth off. Ask yourself if you’re being unreasonable and talk through it logically, and if you can’t talk through it logically, you’re too upset to be communicating with anyone. It’s very likely that the person you’re getting ready to spit nails at doesn’t even realize you’re upset with them.

All I can say is that I’m glad this lady didn’t have an ichthys on the back of her car. If she did, I’d have something else to say about her behavior.

In any case, the more upset you get about things that don’t matter, the more idiotic you look to the people you’re screaming at. You may think you’re standing up for your right to park, but really you’re just demonstrating an immense lack of self-control. And then when you top it off by implying that a pregnant woman should just be grateful to hike across a parking lot in the rain, you’re just coming off like a psycho.

Let it go. There’s more to life than where you get to park your car, although I doubt anyone in Wichita ever believed that. There’s more to life and living than the tiny little insignificant issue you’re facing right now. To draw from the German idiom, keep lice away from your liver.

Life is bigger than its tiny irritations. Stay focused on the things that matter. Trust me; your life will be much happier. And you’ll be far less likely to irritate the writer who intends to use you as an example of childish behavior in every blog post, short story, dramatic sketch, and novel from here to kingdom come. Maybe this lady should apply for a job at Verizon….