I was going south on 95 Friday afternoon on my way to North Carolina. Traffic was moving really well, I was talking on my cell phone, weather was great, I was making good time, it was a great trip! Then all of a sudden, break lights flashed in front of me and things ground to a halt. We started creeping forward slowly, inching along on the asphalt. We were moving so slow that after a few minutes my GPS prompted me with this question. “Would you like to switch to pedestrian mode?” Pedestrian mode, in my car? Are you kidding? I don’t know about you, but I hate traffic. It is one of life’s interruptions that brings frustration. Where are all of these people going and why are they all going my way, as if I have the most important destination of anyone out there. Now there is a selfish thought!
Sometimes our lives feel that way. We are cruising man, life is good, things are clicking, people are connecting, ministry is happening, lives are being changed around us, and praise flows easily out of our mouths because we have so much to be thankful for. And then, the brake lights in the spirit come on and it seems as if life grinds to a halt. What is the problem, we ask? Things were going so well, what happened? What’s the holdup? People seem disconnected, nothing seems to be clicking, nothing much of notability is happening, everyone seems to have taken a vacation, and praise doesn’t flow quite as easily out of our mouths as it did previously. So we begin to look at those around us and begin to think less than stellar thoughts about others. I wish they would get their act together, where is their commitment, where is everybody? Hummm!
Maybe life’s interruptions carry more spiritual connotations than we are willing to give them? Maybe they happen to show us how dependant we are on the Holy Spirit and maybe, just maybe, they happen to show us what really is in our hearts. What are our emotions when things aren’t clicking, people aren’t connecting and things are not happening as rapidly as we expected?
If you are in one of those seasons in life, where things seem like they are at a standstill, let me encourage you. It will change, it always does. Stay faithful, stay graceful, and most importantly, stay connected and in the flow cause the breakthrough is coming. While things are moving slower, use it as an opportunity to look around you, enjoy the scenery, the ones who are traveling with you, and most importantly, thank the Lord for the journey, for it is the journey that has much to teach us, if we give ourselves to it. Even if it takes longer to get where you are going, if you have learned something new about yourself, it was time well invested and it wasn’t an interruption, is was a learning experience.
D.O.V.E.