Driving Lessons

As I've been tending a family's home this past week or so, I have also been given the generous, and risky, opportunity of driving their car, which happens to be a stick shift.  Now, I've driven stick shift a few times before, so I know how it goes.  Over the past several days, with the exception of a few interesting occurrences of sitting helplessly at intersections for five minutes, I have greatly improved my skills -- though I can't say the car hasn't lost some rubber on the tires and gained some cracks in the bumper.  But though I seem to have mastered the art of going forward comfortably, backing up is still quite another story.  In fact, having got the car safely parked, I've gone back to my friendly automatic for the time being, lest I inflict further damage on my friends' poor old rig!

Learning to drive a stick shift is first of all a wonderful lesson in patience.  So I've killed it five times?  Give it yet another try, and another, and another . . .  But when one more try has turned into two dozen more tries and I'm still only inching along in the wrong direction, in comes the next lesson: I need help!  I really can't do this on my own after all.  Somebody who's been there done that and fully conquered it needs to step in to my rescue.  I'm very thankful for the kind lady who did just that for me the other day -- God routinely uses His people to answer desperate prayers!

In every monumental thing we set out to learn in life, there will be moments of "I got this!" as well as many more moments of "I'm totally stuck!"  If we're going to get anywhere, we have to keep trying until we do get it.  Often God provides the ability to get through without outside aid, but when there comes a time that we simply can't get it on our own, a mile in the passenger seat and a little pointer from someone skilled may be just what we need to get us on the road again.  So if you're stuck, put on the brake and call for help before you get in a big scrape.  And when you've finally got it down, look for somebody who doesn't yet and lend a hand!

Without counsel, plans go awry,

But in the multitude of counselors they are established.

Proverbs 15:22

Of Salamanders and Friendships

As we hiked along a woodland creek last weekend, my young friend found a salamander, and like many children her age, she planned to take it home as a pet. She carried it lovingly down the trails, asking me what salamanders eat, noting that the creature liked water, and voicing ideas of a big tub to keep it in. But when I told her she would have to let it go, she couldn't bear the thought of parting with her new friend. I tried to explain: the salamander would likely die in captivity, and if she really cared for it, she wouldn't want it to be unhappy just so she could enjoy it. It was not made to live in a tub -- it was made for the creek, right there in the woods. At last she was convinced, though she held off the parting as long as possible before bidding the salamander a fond farewell.

"That's how it is with all friends," I told her. "If you're not made to live in the same place, you enjoy each other for a while, then you go and live where you were made to live." A lesson for us all, I thought. Aren't we so often like this in our friendships? People make us happy, and we want to keep them, caged up, if need be, for ourselves. We possess our friends. We get hurt if their lives don't run parallel to ours. But it's only because we love them so much, isn't it? No, in reality, it's pure selfishness. We have no right to own another's life. It is unfair and confining to the others and only a burden on ourselves to try to keep them for our own benefit.

Yes, some of us are made to live in the same places. But only the Maker can decide where each of His creatures will call home, thus, only He can decide who our fellow creatures will be. The parameter of where we were "made to live" includes not only the corner of earth we call home, but what makes it home to us -- the things we're passionate about, the things that feed our souls, the specific work God has given us to do. If a friend, dear as that friend may be, cannot share all this, we should not try to force a fish to fly or a bird to swim, so to speak. Granted, some do. And what a blessing such friends are! But let us not have too much sorrow over those who truly are made for a different place in life than the one designed for us. We may enjoy each other when we meet, then go in freedom to fulfill our purpose where we each were made to live until the day that all our true friends -- our family in Christ -- will share one great Home.

But now God has set the members, each one

of them, in the Body just as He pleased.

And if they were all one member,

where would the Body be?

1 Corinthians 12:18-19

The Hardest Little Word

"No" is such a negative word.  It is the denial of desire, the declaration that something doesn't measure up, the rejection of plans and ideas.  It's a slap in the face, a door slamming, a "Closed" sign.  It confines, constricts, controls, and condemns.  Never did two letters smash lives more quickly.

Hearing "No" requires some tough constitution, and saying it takes even more.  You must brace yourself for the word, and when it comes, what then?  "No" is isolating, and leaves you to take the next uncertain step alone.  It is dangerous to say -- for to deny a loved one is great pain, or there may come a risk of finding cruel pleasure in the duty.

On the other hand, "No" does have its beautiful place. It is the release from fear, the freedom to move on. It's a reassuring touch, a "One Way" sign. It protects, propels, and projects. Never did two letters bring such relief -- for a "No" here must mean a "Yes" elsewhere . . . or perhaps just later.

God, the perfect Father, often tells His children "No" -- always for our protection, and always so He can say "Yes" to something better.  "No" shreds our beloved rough draft and sets up a fresh blank page, which may indeed be daunting.  But it is good.  Amongst ourselves, as bearers of God's image, we must unflinchingly say "No" to evil, and often even to perceived good, so that we may be free to say "Yes" to the best.  For the best is coming -- our Father has planned it, and He has promised!

"The grace of God . . . teaches us to say "No"

to ungodliness . . . while we wait for the blessed

hope, the glorious appearing of our great

God and Savior, Jesus Christ."

Titus 2:11-13