Last Sunday morning’s drive of 50 miles to Lyons was interesting. It began with a bit of rain as I pulled out of the driveway and as I got out of the city the temperature evidently dropped slightly. Because of the rain I was driving a bit slower than usual. As I took a left hand turn onto a county road I turned the steering wheel for the turn but the car continued to try to go straight. I realized that there was ice forming on the roadway and carefully negotiated the rest of the turn. I slowed down even more and drove more deliberately, thankful that the car handled well. By the time I got to Grace Church it was a skating rink on the road and worse on the sidewalks.
It occurred to me that had I not been taking precautions, if I had not slowed down due to the rain and wet road, I could very well have gone off the road and into the ditch. (Been there! Done that! …More than once.)
Likewise if we are not vigilant about the choices we may day by day and week by week, we might well not realize when our life is beginning to go into a skid and out of control, or our values are becoming skewed, or the results of our choices are far from bearing the kind of fruit the Gospel suggests we should produce.
As my driving instructor and great-“aunt” Edith told me “When you are in the skid it is already too late to hit the brakes.” That applies to life as well as to driving. We need to be aware so as to anticipate the driving conditions around us just as we need to be conscious of the direction and the flow of our lives – if we wish to avoid running them off into the ditch.
Don
