Mar

See you at the Light.

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I had one of those annoying moments this morning on my drive to work. It was raining, foggy and traffic was flowing about 5 miles below the posted speed limit. There is a long train of cars all heading in from the burbs to the city. About 1 mile from the intersection where most of us will turn of the two lane county highway to the 4 lane freeway I see the game of leap frog begin. It is a car that is 2 cars behind me that suddenly pulls out and flies past me and the car in front of me and dives into the small space available with no time to spare. This maneuver is repeated a second time with the same level of danger and risk. Fifteen seconds later we are all sitting at the stop light together, two lanes turning left with Mr. In A Hurry just ahead of me in line.

The 10 second lead over the rest of the pack will probably earn him a promotion, coupled with an ulcer. It still amazes me how drive for speed we are. We seem to want it in everything. I even have fast recharging batteries that will recharge to full strength in just 15 minutes. We all know how much we would be put out if our wii remotes were down for longer than 15 minutes.

So why the rant on speed today? It is like so many of my thoughts driven by my time in the Word. This morning I was reading in the book of Psalms and came across this verse:

⁷Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Psalm 37:7 (NIV)

I have to admin this verse being fresh on my mind helped my reaction to the little game of leap frog I was a part of this morning. Where I might have been very frustrated by some one “cutting” in line, and putting others at risk to do it. While the risk part bothers me, I feel sorry for someone who is fretting so much about time that he feels the need to play leap frog.

This verse also got me asking myself the question, “What causes me to fret?” and I realized that each day in my office I have my little battle with my need for speed. When my office computer reboots in the morning it often causes me to “fret” as it is a slow process, it takes about 5 minutes to be fully ready to do what I want it to do. Most morning I just fume quietly about it. Today I decided to use that time as a fret relief time. My new plan is to take the time that it takes my computer each day to prep itself for action and use it to prep myself for action. It will give me a bonus 5 minutes for prayer. Five extra minutes of prayer a day sounds like a good way to practice slowing down my own life.

There is one more verse from my morning Psalm that comes to mind as I reflect…

³⁴Wait for the Lord and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it. Psalm 37:34 (NIV)

Now for the rest of the story.. 10 minutes after our game of leap frog traffic backed up and i found myself passing Mr. In A Hurry, who’s lane was at a dead stand still. OK I know I can not necessarily chalk this one up to divine justice, but I must admit it made me smile!