This morning I was finishing a study on 2 Thessalonians and Paul begins his closing thoughts this way.
16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.
As I finished my time, I wrote a prayer in my devotional journal, “Lord, give me peace at all time and in every way.”
Shortly after that Meredith and I were out the door heading to the farmers market to pick up some things and low and behold what is in front of me on Hwy 31? A young girl doing 35 – 40 mph on a scooter in a 55 zone. Now someone going 5 – 10 mph under the speed limit is usually enough to get me fired up, but going 15 – 20 mph is ridiculous. My blood was getting ready to boil…it’s not like her scooter couldn’t go faster…it was a 125 cc bike. But that was not the worst part.
As a safety conscious motorcycle rider, I get really frustrated when bikers don’t follow good rules of the road. There are some safety precautions that can be taken to allow other drivers see you better and be safer while you ride. Well this young lady, who was already asking to get run over as people were passing her in no passing zones, was not following good rules of the road, she kept hugging the right edge of the road. I’m sure she meant well but the first rule of riding is to establish ownership of the lane. You do that by placing yourself in the left side of the lane. She was just begging someone to try and pass her without crossing the yellow lines.
All of the sudden it hit me. I had prayed that God would give me peace at all times and in every way and sure enough…he hit me with two of my biggest pet peeves; slow drivers and bikers that don’t know what they’re doing.
This got me thinking about how I view things. I don’t think I’m alone in my desire to have peace, but I’m realizing that I’ve been going about it the wrong way. Over the last 47 years I have golfed, boated, hiked, walked, run, ridden my motorcycle and spent time in the woods, all in an attempt to relieve stress and unwind. But my focus has been on reducing stress…not gaining peace. I learned this morning that to have peace…I need to focus on God more than my circumstances. I need to keep the big picture in mind and remember that God is in control. Lesson learned for the day, let’s hope I remember today’s lesson…tomorrow.
Good listening.