One day this past winter I was driving our youngest to school. We were running late, myself fully to blame. I was honoring the speed limit but it was far from a leisurely drive. And up ahead I saw the yellow warning lights of a school bus.
I have an internal rule where I always make a point to stop far away from the school bus and any children that might be entering or exiting. A few extra feet forward is not worth it to me when little lives are involved.
However, as I stated earlier, while I was staying within the boundary of the speed limit, my car was not leisurely driving down the road and I noticed the bus driver waited until I had come to a complete stop before changing her yellow to red. (I’m sure that’s a rule anyway, a good rule!)
The Lord used that moment to remind me of something. I knew I had every intention of stopping for the school bus, further back than necessary in fact. However, it was dark, the school bus driver had no idea who was behind the wheel and couldn’t read my mind. Therefore, she had to take every precaution to ensure the children on her bus were safe, and needed to wait for a complete stop from me before turning her yellow to red.
Isn’t it that way with many relationships we have? I may have the best intentions in my head. The others involved in the relationship may have the best intentions as well. But unless we communicate those intentions outwardly to each other, we’ll never know. They can’t read my mind and I cannot read theirs.
May I choose today to make a complete stop while the warnings lights are starting to flash, instead of delaying my response and causing anxiety in others who choose to have a relationship with me.
© Cheri Swalwell 2020