When I am driving, I often look into the other cars around me and wonder:
Where is that person going?
I think we often forget people have lives that they live every day, just like us. They have families...jobs...appointments...(and the lucky ones,) vacations. I'm curious. I've even started the habit of praying for families when I see an Ambulance rush past me.
My husband is one who struggles with road rage, more than anyone else I have personally been in a car with (aside from my older sister.) So, together, we thought up some situations that you could easily see a person in that could hinder their best driving ability.
1. We're Having a Baby!
This is mine and my husband's go-to comment. We always know someone pregnant, so it relates. The last road we turn on to get to our house merges into one lane. Right before this lane merges, there is a stop light. Every single time we are at this stop light, there are cars in both lanes...and my husband and I grit our teeth. We know that these people know the left lane ends. We know that they are going to try to cut us off. I can usually see my husbands hands clinching the steering wheel as if it were their necks...So, when that light turns green, (when I remember) and I see them speeding past us I yell "Maybe their wife is in labor!" It usually changes the mood.
You see, I've been there. I know the panic...and so does my husband.
And if you are a man, and you just don't get it...my husband also refers to this one as "I Got to Poop!!"
Because when you got to go...
2. Just Got Fired.
On a more serious note, this one is actually pretty common. If you are the soul provider for your family...and that unexpected thing that you never saw coming hits you square between the eyes, I can't imagine what your mind is doing...thinking...praying on your way home to tell your family. My first thought wouldn't be to turn on my blinker. Just sayin'.
3. Death in Family.
Last year my mom called me at a quarter til midnight to let me know that my grandmother, her mom had passed away in her sleep. I immediately jumped out of bed and went with my mom to her mother's home. I was close to my grandmother and my mind wasn't focused on anything else but getting to her. But, at midnight you can imagine what it looks like outside...and my grandmother lived in the deep, deep woods. When you have tears in your eyes and no reflectors on the road, you will need your bright lights. We did not intentionally blind anyone, but it may have rubbed a few the wrong way. (We're sorry.)
4. Physically Ill.
One evening I decided to go to the gym. I was there for maybe 10 minutes before I felt extremely nauseous. I chalked it up to too much caffeine and too much heat. Then I got the sweats. I had. to. leave. My gym is about 15 minutes away and about 5 minutes into my drive I had to call my husband because my head was pounding so hard it hurt to keep my eyes open. But I had to get home.
Nothing like driving while you have the stomach flu!
5. Overwhelmed Parent.
If you are a parent, you get this. The description says it all, right?
When you have one kid screaming because she was playing with a barbie in the backseat but if fell on the floor and she can't reach it...and the other one had just spilled a juice box all over their brand new shirt (you know, because they had ALSO destroyed the other one in Target earlier)...and they pulled their bows out of their hair...and they have a runny nose...and they're also crying because they can't find their pacifier. And of course they start fighting because they are both being too loud...(This doesn't seem like a personal experience at all, does it. ;))
Trust me. No music can tune that out. You're just swatting your hand around the back seat (to try to find that pacifier, or to give a good ol' fashion spanking, whatever comes in to contact first!) and praying the steering wheel isn't swaying with you as you're driving down the road.
At that point, I know, you are doing W H A T E V E R it takes to arrive to your destination, so,watch out world.
When my mind is focused on a situation of another's, rather than my own...I am slow(er) to anger.
I tried to explain it to my husband like this: When you get angry, you are yelling at cars. But, what if all of these people were on bicycles? You see that sobbing woman struggling to push through her journey...that father trying to find the words...that mom trying to get her kids home. Would you still yell at them, or would your patience get a little bit stronger, for a little bit longer? That line of traffic isn't a line of cars...it's people. People who have ups and downs, just like you.
Proverbs 14:29
And maybe you are one of those people in said situations...breathe. Pray. And know that you can rest easy in the hands of your maker. God has you right in the palms of His hands, and he's got it all planned out for you.
-Ashley
xoxo
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