Circumstance & Change

Luke 6:27-31, "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

What a powerful message!! I have a hard time with this as I'm sure many many people do. It's hard to not only show love towards, but to love, someone who has hurt you, don't you agree? It's also hard to constantly give to someone who you don't feel gives back or not enough, yet we are to do so. No questions asked.

!WOW!

say what again?

This verse came to me after I had a minor conflict with a dump truck this morning on my way to work. See, I was at a stop sign waiting for a gap in traffic so I could go. Obviously, the man in the vehicle behind me must have thought he saw the spaces I didn't in order to go or well, he just lost his patience (which maybe he never had?; Luke 21:19). Most likely the second, but anyway, he honked his horn. I, in return, flipped him off. Yes, sadly I went there!

I find a lot of people honk their horns all the time, which irks me. I think you should only when absolutely necessary, like to avoid an accident/wake that person up. Otherwise, honking your horn, I view, as a sign of rudeness.

So as I began to move, he went right along with me, not stopping at the stop sign (He must have felt he stopped long enough). The man proceeded to tail gate me. I could just feel the anger as if he wanted to ram the back of my car!

My goodness... I mean, why are people always in such a hurry? I go the speed limits so there is no reason to be on my bumper! Was he rushing to save multitudes of people from a bomb going off? I don't think so! He was driving a truck full of rocks! Yes, one of those annoying construction vehicles you aren't supposed to ride that close to because the peebles fly out denting your car... but because I had nothing to throw back at him except for my finger, I guess he figured it would be alright to move closer and closer safely!

Well, as you can tell by my writing that this situation quite bothered me. It bothered me that he did what he did and that I reacted how I did. Then as I got to work, I was directed towards the above Bible verse. Ahhh, God really knows how to speak to us and touch our hearts! Amen! He made me think....

I treated the guy how I felt he was treating me but two wrongs don't make a right and I should have treated him how I would have wanted to be treated. How do you show that driving along in a car though? Maybe I should have just pulled over to let him pass as a show of curteousy? He could have been in a hurry for some unknown reason to me, his mother could have been having a heart attack for all I knew!

I will take this lesson with me come next time... cause I'm sure that there will be another situation similar to this one sometime, unfortunately. Bottom line is if we'd like our circumstances to change, we must allow God to have His full way in us. To find a perspective beyond our own. Only then can we find incredible peace in the storms of life.