On my way to church last night, for our last choir rehearsal of the season, I was stopped at a red light. To my left, there was a lane for people turning right. Due to the position of my car and the position of the lane, the SUV behind me couldn't squeeze past to turn. The driver honked and she and her friends gave me angry looks to get me to pull up.
I pulled up a little and returned the angry looks with some of my own. As the car was pulling away, without thinking, without missing a beat, and to my own horror and amazement, I flipped off the girls in the SUV. WHAT?!! I couldn't believe my own eyes. I was completely mortified.
Generally, I can just let car things go. If someone wants to go faster than me, I get over for them. If someone isn't looking when the light changes, I honk a short, friendly honk and laugh about the times I've done that myself. Last night, though, I wasn't so forgiving.
As I drove the rest of the way to church, I prayed for those girls, that my lack of grace in that situation would be compensated for in some way. I prayed for myself, that God would forgive my lack of patience and help me to never repeat such stupidity. And I resolved that the next time someone honks at me or passes me or gives me an angry look from their car, I will smile and wave.
3 comments:
My most intense spiritual high can be reduced to an f-bomb-dropping rage by a good traffic jam. It reminds me of Peter, who swore his life to Christ, and denied him a couple hours later.
It's good to resolve to do better, but the best part is knowing that grace covers what trying harder cannot.
Good post.
I've often wondered what it is about driving that stresses us out so much. As someone who doesn't bat an eyelash at cursing profusely or flipping someone off if they're being a jerk, the amount of anger I'm capable of generating in bad driving conditions genuinely frightens me.
I'm not one of those who doesn't ever curse, but I generally don't respond in anger. Usually, I'm pretty level-headed and think things through. It was the lack of any thought that surprised me most about this incident. I saw angry head waggling and I joined in!
Post a Comment