Patrol Control

Driving down the highway at 65 (okay 70) miles per hour gives me the chance to be kind to my neighbor -

said nobody ever.

Truth is, I have to fight my inner voice patrol officer that actually illicites words like 'idiot' and 'who do they think they are' - words that never under any circumstance do I even have a desire to say at any other point in my day.

Odd, isn't it, that following rules for the rules sake often keeps us from the relationships we so desperately desire? Maybe that why it's easier to shout my judgement from the luxury of my leather interior to someone I will never see again. Rules are an important thing.

But, are they 'THE' important thing?

I could go into all sorts of psychological reasons why we have the need to judge and think we need to keep rules as our number one ally, but that's not where I'm going with this, so hang with me.

The thing that has grabbed me in my heart today is not what I am gaining by this type of mindset, but what I am losing.

The other day I was in a loooong line of cars that had dwindled down to one lane in the evening traffic. Did I tell you it was a long line? It was loooong. So, when someone rode up beside me on the shoulder of the road and wanted in, it was frustrating to say the least. I kept looking in my rear-view mirror at each lost soul who came sliding in, cutting the line that was so obviously there. I felt like I was back in the elementary school lunchroom line. I grew hotter and hotter in my air conditioned bubble.

That's when it struck me-

I was so busy noticing the rule breakers from my judgmental carseat that I had completely closed my eyes to what was being painted up ahead right before me...

the most magnificent sunset I had seen in long, long time. Did I tell you it had been a long, long time? It had been a looooong time. It wasn't that the sun had not been setting everyday at its' appropriate time. It's just that I hadn't seen it. With my long lists of what I had to get done and all the 'crazies' around me to monitor, I just had not seen it.

Stop.

It was glorious, really. One of those kinds that you could try to take a picture of, but that the camera would never do justice - deep reds and oranges with a royal blue background - the colors fit for a queen.

One of the best experiences of that moment? There was no guilt or shame coming from that sunset. The color red didn't glare at me accusingly. It was just full of beauty and grace, saying, "Come spend time with Me. You don't have to control your universe. I've got it. Just look at these beautiful colors and rest your mind."

As for the other 'idiots' - like me - out there? He's loving on them, too.

I have this mind mantra now whenever I see someone racing up to, and around, me - "Lord, be with that person. They must be about to have a baby and must get to the hospital quickly!"

Paradigm shift...

I really don't know what is going on with each person, and besides...

I get a good laugh picturing the large hairy man with a belly full of baby.

Look past the race to see the miracles today - they are there just waiting for you.

Matthew 13:15 -

"15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’

16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear."