You see it everyday. You’re at a stoplight, waiting to turn
left, or simply proceed through and finally your light turns green. Except
that, cars from the crossing street continue to make that last push through the
light. One, two, three, sometimes even four cars – aiming to not get stopped at
that light, proceed through the intersection even when your light has been
green for many seconds. You wait patiently until all cars trail through and the
coast is clear, and then you proceed. I see this quite often throughout my
travels around town. And while I have been guilty of going through the
intersection through a late yellow light changing to red on occasion, and even the
split second after it has turned red so I could clear the intersection when
turning left, it continues to amaze me how often I see multiple cars sneak
through that intersection after that light has turned red. Seeing this has not
only become a pet peeve of mine, but also made me think about how that applies
to life. Can they be in that much of a hurry? Are they that impatient to sit
through the light? Where do they need to be so fast? How can they be so careless?
I think this speaks a lot for the frantic pace of this world
and our society. I think this serves as a metaphor for how many of us live our
lives, including myself at times. So I thought I'd write a post and use it as a parable. I used
to get so frustrated in traffic, I hated to be stopped. Maybe its because I
have a much shorter commute now, but I also have started looking at the world
from a different perspective. It all seems so trivial. We are always on the go,
always trying to speed through life. I was as guilty of this as anyone. We
don’t want to stop, don’t want to be slowed down, good Lord if I have to sit at
this light, what am I going to do with myself for that couple of minutes? I mean, I’ve already checked my texts while
driving, right? Unfortunately, I’m not
joking about this. The pace of this world, our never-ending break from
technology, social media, and news causes us to rush through life at a hurried
pace, always trying to move onto the next thing, and not slow down to enjoy the
small things. Gotta make that light, and save that couple of minutes because at
the end of the day, those minutes add up and right? And I’m going to get to work two minutes
faster. What does that two minutes get
you at the end of the day? Is that stress worth the two extra minutes? Do you turn
that two minutes into something special, or is it wasted? Or, perhaps we need to look at the two
minutes that we lost, being able to sit at that light, and think about
whatever, and listen. Just to take a time out and be patient.
Have you ever turned off the radio while you drive?
Listening to the sound of the car, the traffic, and the silence. It makes you uneasy,
and impatient at first. We get so uncomfortable when we’re not doing something,
and not going somewhere, or when we have to sit in silence. So often we always have to be on the go. But when you
have that time to yourself, even a couple minutes in silence, you begin to gain
a different perspective, and you start to think about things, and listen to
yourself, listen your thoughts. And with all the nonsense on the radio most of
the time, it keeps that negative content from entering your mind. I don’t
expect you to never listen to the radio in the car, I love hearing the music or a good
discussion at times. But sometimes it’s just nice to have the silence. It’s
amazing what you’ll hear. This is something I’ve started to do from time to
time, and its amazing how much you can learn on a 12 minute commute to work. This
just isn’t in the car, but also life in general.
When you look at it from a life perspective, we all have the
intersections in our lives, those everyday events, those people we meet, and those
relationships we build. Do we blow through them like we do that stoplight? Not
wanting to yield, not wanting to slow down and stop and embrace the opportunity
in front of you, to enjoy the time with the people closest to you, or to simply
stop and listen to what God or your conscience maybe is wanting to tell
you? Do we take our families for
granted, get caught up in our daily craziness, and miss out on those occasions
to simply talk with our spouse and kids, and get their take on life? Do you
take time as a family, to be thankful for the things you’ve been given, the
opportunities, and the trials that have brought you closer together? Its very hard to do this in today's world, to slow
down and listen from time to time.
We all have those stoplights in our live, both literally and
figuratively. And in each scenario, how we handle them can have lasting effects
in our life and in the lives of others. Do we get greedy, and impatient, and
speed through endangering the livelihood of ourselves and others? Why do we
need to be in that big of a hurry? Do we just continue to live in chaos, and blow
through those times only to wonder what happened? And do we fail to see the
signs, listen to the warnings, and slow down, and stop, and fail to take time
out, wait for the traffic in our lives to cross, and then continue on our path
of life? We need that foundation, that structure in our lives, much like a
network of roads and stoplights that keep us on track, and keep our lives in
order.
Life is going to throw you stoplights throughout your time
here on Earth. It may sound cliché, but I really see a parallel here. Sometimes
we just need to slow down, look out, and stop for something ahead. It could be
a trial in life, a storm, or something good that you need to embrace and enjoy,
something that you otherwise would have missed. If we fly by through life
though, always worrying about how busy we are, where we have to be, the
things we have to do, and not focusing on what’s important, and try to beat
those red lights in our lives, we'll not only potentially miss out on
something great, but you also run the risk of being stopped in our tracks and
learning the hard way.
Life does not have to be chaotic and out of control. We
don’t have to be in a hurry. We can still have our families, belong to groups,
be involved in lots of activities, travel and see the world, have a great
career, serve the community and the needs of others. All of that makes us a
better person. We just need to have a broader focus on what is important, doing
what’s right, and realizing that if any one of those things are taken away, you
are still you and your life goes on, and rely on the relationships you’ve
built, the family you have and your spiritual beliefs or conscience to see it
through. We just need to look for the signs, look for those stoplights that
tell us to slow down, take a break and listen for the lesson to be learned, the
experience to be had, and to embrace the people you meet along the way. And remember when out on the roads;
think twice before you try to beat that light, because someone else may not be.
