Can Highway 12 be a road of grace?
I asked myself that question from time to time.
I learn many lessons from driving on that four-lane, fast-paced highway.
Most of those lessons have to do with grace.
Too often, those lessons include my failures to be graceful.
What can Highway 12–or any road–teach us about spiritual life?
Many things.
I only feel safe driving 55 mph down this busy road (which has no divider) because I trust other drivers.
If others didn’t obey traffic laws, how could I know whether a stranger wouldn’t hit my car head-on?
Highway 12 is a road of grace–the grace of trusting, obeying the law myself, and faith.
Sometimes you have to trust that the roadway itself is smooth.
That’s not always true in California, so we watch for rough roads and generally slow down.
This particular Highway 12 — we lived on Route 12 in Connecticut once — is heavily traveled.
Both lanes are usually full, which means I get to practice patience.
Practicing.
Sometimes, even succeeding in not getting impatient!
Why are patience and grace needed for driving?
After one robust Bible study (I took Highway 12 to church), I returned home convicted about my attitude.
How often have I complained about other drivers?
(Too often, I realized the day my toddler yelled at a slow car. He sounded like me. And he wasn’t even driving!)
As I got older, I decided I didn’t need to compete with other drivers anymore. I’d slow down, pull to the right, and let them pass me.
Maybe they had a legitimate need?
Maybe a woman was in labor?
It didn’t really matter. Nothing was gained by my being nasty and not letting them by.
If it’s that big an issue for them, I wave them by.
Can you be too grace-filled on a highway?
Then there was the time while driving along the coast, when I let a frantic driver pass me.
I was driving the speed limit on the twisty California Highway 1, right above the ocean.
The car sped dramatically by, the driver practically shaking a fist at me.
The car hurried around one curve on that winding Highway 1.
It made it past another curve and hit a straightaway where it sped up.
I poked along behind the little BMW, shaking my head.
Until it didn’t slow down at the next curve and drove off the road.
My mouth dropped open in shock. Highway 1 curves along cliffs above the ocean.
That car drove off the road!
I slowed down very slowly when I got to the curve, almost afraid to look over the side.
He got lucky that day–two more curves would have taken him into the ocean.
That day, the driver’s fancy car ended up in a cow pasture. Several cars pulled over to help.
I’ve never been able to decide if, on that day, giving grace was such a good idea . . .
End result?
Highway 12 reminds me every day to bestow grace where I can.
And try not to need others to do the same to me!
Thoughts? Reactions? Lurker?