Traffic Grace

This blog post is gonna wander a bit, while staying on point.  But, I'm gonna stay with that post title.

I love to drive.  For a long time, recently, I have not had much opportunity to do so, as I was letting someone else use my car which became their car when I sold it to them.  So, it feels SOO good to be behind the wheel, even in a place like Tampa Bay with traffic that often feels like others are in an audition for Fast and Furious.  Even then, my being behind the wheel brings me absolute peace.  One thing that contributes to that peace in driving fast and sometimes confusing routes is knowing this... if I miss the exit, I will find a new way to get back to where I want to go.  If i take a wrong turn, I can get back to my road.  Whatever happens will happen, and I can adjust for it, so  why should I be angry with myself or anxious about something that is easily fixed.

And, why should that grace be only limited to myself.  If I can make this kind of allowance for myself, why shouldn't I allow others the same allowance?  Whatever they do or did can also be put in the past and left there. 

Right now, we are finding ourselves in a time after a major election.  I was out there speaking of grace and connection, before the election.  I am still out here speaking of those things after the electtion, even though others are rushing to inject poison into the situation on both sides.  As I have been saying, having to be "right" and to prove others "wrong" has negatively impacted my life and my connections for a very long time, until I began to understand that being right is not as important as caring for the hurting.  Oftentimes, those that are hurting are the ones that create new wounds, as Paranorman also says, "When people are scared, they can say and do terrbie things."  And, those are the things that people want to remember and drag out as evidence to prove someone as being a bad person.  But, is that how God seens things... or how he calls us to be?

Indeed, Jesus is most known in the world for one thing, taking the sins of the world.  That's a nice little quip saying, but let's put it in applicable terms, as I have done.  He took the BLAME, so that he could care for those that were causing pain due to their pain.  And, over and over, He called us to turn the other cheek and do the same.

And, why SHOULD we take that path, if that path leads not only to finding fault in more and more to isolate us more and more, but it also leads us to  feel we, ourselves, are no longer worthy of the love of God, forgetting that we received it when we were already unworthy.  Rather, God would have us love ourselves, anew, and love others in their pain and flaws, whichis the only place that being loved is desperately needed.

I recently stood before the waves on a beach at night, which is something I love to do and is among the things I consider closest to Heaven.  Being there, you are reminded that nothing really matters that much, after all.  We are a tiny speck in a big world that goes on operating without us and will long after us.  If we keep that in mind, maybe we can cut ourselves and others a little slack, whether in traffic or life, and maybe help add a little good into our world around us.