“Patience comes of sovereign prudence, impatience of unchecked folly.” — Proverbs 14:29
During Lent I recounted two life-changing episodes I experienced on the same stretch of road, 30 years apart. (I’ll link to the stories below if you are interested in the details.) These episodes gave me the feeling that God was intervening with me in an unusually noticeable way. I wouldn’t call these episodes miraculous, but to the unusualness I can now add another episode.
I’m writing this today, on Easter Sunday. And now again, on the same 100-yard stretch of road, two more incidents occurred.
The episode that occurred a few weeks ago I interpreted as God teaching me a lesson about patience. He was teaching me with two very direct and amusingly ironic chastisements that my impatience is really a stupid and counter-productive response to His will.
I have long considered impatience to be one of my worst faults. Qualitatively, I cannot judge how impatience ranks among my various flaws and sins, but quantitatively, there’s little doubt impatient reactions top the list, and people who know me best, the frequent victims of my impatient attitude, have validated this assessment many times.
So back to the current story. Early this morning, again driving down the same stretch of road (a two-lane where passing is not allowed) to get coffee, I got behind a car creeping along well under the speed limit – and not another car anywhere in sight. Now this is exactly the sort of thing that typically sets me off, gets me fuming. But today, remembering the lesson from three weeks ago — and hey, it’s Easter Sunday, too! — I stopped myself from reacting this way. Instead, I prayed for the driver. I prayed that God would bless him and his family, and get him safely to … and just then, the car turned into a driveway and got out of my way. Accepting God’s will of putting a slow driver in my path took care of the problem.
But wait, there’s more. On the way back from getting coffee, minutes later, the same thing happened. I got behind a car moving at a snail’s pace, I prayed for the driver — and within seconds the car turned into a cul-de-sac and out of my way.
I’m not sure what the lesson could be other than accepting God’s will is the path of least resistance. When I resist God’s will with impatience, immovable objects get in my way and stay in my way.
Trivial incidents? Perhaps. Coincidences? It seems less and less likely that this is ordinary ground. The two incidents with cars three weeks ago was coincidental enough — and now two more incidents almost exactly parallel in time and place and theme.
I relate this not to spotlight some way that God has singled me out, is doing something extraordinary to me or for me because I’m special. On the contrary, these stories are important because I’m not special. The point for you to take note of, the exciting news I want to share, is that God is real, and God is working in your life in an active way — and all you have to do is notice it. It’s taken me decades to notice it, to really notice it deep down.
You can do better!
God bless.
Background
Lenten Reflection 20, Patience!
Lenten Reflection 37, On Holy Ground?
