A Driving Lesson

Don't you just hate it when you're toolin' down the road, on your way to somewhere important, with just enough time to get there right on time and you suddenly find yourself stuck at a light behind a big old semi that is so slow getting through the intersection when the light turns green, that the light turns red again before you can get through it? So annoying!

I recently found myself in a similar situation. There I was, sailing down the highway, feeling rather smug at my success of hitting all the lights green and making it to my appointment in record time. The last light before my turn-off turned green and I knew that if I took my foot off the gas for a bit, the traffic ahead of me would have time to clear and I wouldn't even have to step on my brakes. Woohoo! Wrong. The humongous truck in my lane crawled through the intersection. I had to come to a complete stop and then creep behind him at an impressive 5 miles per hour. Grrrrrrr....One, two, then three cars sped past me in the adjacent lane. Finally, I saw an opening, darted into the neighboring lane and stomped on the gas to get around that annoying truck. I mean, come on. He had to pass a test to drive that thing. You'd think he'd at least have the courtesy to pull over into the slow lane. Just as I pulled even with the truck, feeling rather pleased that I had the self control to refrain from honking at the guy, I saw two things. First, I noticed that the right-hand, or slow lane, ended just another fifty or so feet from the intersection. Oops, I needed to really step on the gas if I wanted to get around that truck. Second, the truck was pulling not one, but two very large dumpster loads of gravel and his loads were almost overflowing. The truck driver couldn't accelerate because he was pulling several tons of rock.

My next thought was, "Aren't you glad you didn't honk? You had no idea he was pulling such a difficult load." I began to wonder how many other times I've made judgments about people, not knowing the burdens they carry. Wow. I felt like I had been head smacked...and I deserved it! Very rarely are things just the way we see them.

As I walked out of yoga this morning, I started chatting with a couple of other ladies that attend the class. You have to understand that this was only my third class and I knew that the other ladies had been participating for several months. I felt intimidated and very inadequate. The things these ladies can do with their bodies! Anyway...one of the ladies knew me from working out at Curves and she asked about how things were going with our house in Phoenix. We talked about dealing with challenges and how we cope and the second gal opened up and poured her heart out. She expressed her concerns and fears and her inability to feel the love that she knows Heavenly Father has for her. We shared tears and hugs. We talked about the things we do to strengthen our hope and faith. She mentioned wanting to write a book... then I mentioned ANWA. I gave her the website and told her I was trying to get a chapter started up here. She expressed an interest in joining. Then this wonderful, amazing, beautiful woman looked at me and said, "Now I have something to live for."

She thanked me and the other sister for sticking around and chatting with her and brightening her day. I told her thank you for brightening my day. I know that many people have come into my life to teach me, to be a light for me. Right at a time when I had slipped back into a feeling of inadequacy, I was gifted with this opportunity to shine a light for someone else. I was given much more than I gave. That is such a miracle to me. I've made a new friend. That is another blessing. I gave her the link to this blog, and if she visits, I hope she reads this and knows how much I have already come to love her!

I'm thankful for the lesson the truck driver taught me. Look, listen with your heart, and allow others to be. I'm thankful for all the amazing people Heavenly Father has put in my path to teach me and help me fulfill my purpose in this life. And...and I am thankful for those of you who read all the way through this random post!
hugs~