Bright Sun-Shiny Day

Today on my way back from work, I noticed the traffic coming into town was unusually light compared to those driving out of town. On a normal day, inbound traffic is heavy but steady especially around the five o’clock rush hour time. Today it was different. It made the ride home feel a little bit relaxing. I turned on the radio as I cruise-controlled my thirty minutes drive home from the “big” city.

I had barely slipped into my “thinking” mood when I saw a metallic grey Honda Civic zig-zag its way from the right lane to the fast lane. I rolled my eyes as I thought how insensitive some motorists can be when switching lanes. Barely 2 minutes passed, I noticed another car, this time, a white BMW with a sporty look drive past me moving as fast as the speed of the light. I switched lanes to the middle lane just to pace myself. Soon, I’ll slip back into my thinking mood.

I casually observed as other drivers drove past me; some more hurriedly than others. I also observed as others took an exit to their final destination or unto a different route.  My thoughts slowly dissipated as one of my favorite songs come on the radio: “I can see clearly now the rain is gone…I can see all obstacles in my way.. Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind..it’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) sun-shiny day.“

I snapped back into reality as the car in front of me abruptly slammed on the breaks. I sat up and stretched out my neck in an effort to see what was happening in front. Everyone began to slow done. Cars in the left lane started going unusually slow.  I looked up again and saw a flashing blue and red light pulled on the side of the road behind a white BMW. Aha! I slowly rested back into my seat seeing what has caused the startle. I looked at the clock…it’s starting to get dark. Five more miles until my exit. I started to speed up a little so I can get home before it gets dark. No matter how hard I stepped on the gas, it felt like I was going at the same pace. I was tired. I just wanted to get home. I wasn’t worried about the possibility of getting pulled over. I just wanted to get home.

This might sound a little abstract but I like to think of life as driving on the highway. So many things happen along the way. We get kicked out of our lane. We get pulled over. We get honked at or we simply have a smooth drive. Sometimes we exit because we have reached our destination or because of unexpected circumstances. One thing to understand is, your journey is different from everyone else. Some people will make it in life by riding on the fast lane and for some of us, we have to move over to the “slow” lane to pace ourselves. And that’s OK! Speeding doesn’t always mean you’ll get to your destination faster, likewise, steering slow does not mean you will never get to your destination – it may cause some delays but it will get you to your destination safer. I have come to understand how important it is to always keep my eyes on the road while occasionally looking in the side and rear view mirrors to prevent dangerous blind spots and keep my car out of the path of reckless driving. Our journey is the most important and should by all means take up all of our focus. We may even need to sometimes drive defensively against all distractions that will pull us further and further away from reaching our destinations.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places – Ephesians 6:12

Not everyone’s success story is a true success. Some are there to distract you from reaching your true potentials. Others are there to make you feel worthless. Believe in yourself and trust God to get you to your destination safely.

Comparison is a thief of Joy.

Pray without ceasing.