90 seconds of life

 

The average length of a traffic light is one minute and 30 seconds.

Yesterday I stopped at a traffic light a few car lengths behind the vehicle in front of me so that I wasn’t blocking a business entrance.  The car behind me honked.  I looked in the review mirror and saw the woman behind me talking to me angrily.  I thought, ‘Doesn’t she see that I didn’t move forward so that I wouldn’t block the business entrance?’  A few seconds later honked again.  This time when I looked in the review mirror, I saw she was talking to me and gastrulating angrily.  I started to feel irritated.  Where did she think she was going? We were all stopped at the light!  Why are people so impatient? 

I thought about the day before when I was sitting in line at the pickup line at my kid’s school.  I was the last person in line, so when the bus in front of me moved forward one car length I just waited.  I didn’t move because I was on a slight incline; I was driving my husband’s manual, and I just didn’t feel like putting it into gear to move 15 feet.  This white minivan driven by the proverbial Karen swooped in behind me and immediately honked her horn so that I would move up one car length.  Ugh!  So, I put it in gear and idled forward.  I was going so slowly Karen swerved into the next lane.  I knew that was a bad idea for her, but people are so anxious to do the next stupid thing what can you say to them? 

I knew that the lane I was in moved faster than the other lane 90% of the time.  So, by the time I got to the pickup point, Karen was about 6 cars behind me in the other lane.  Thinking about Karen made me feel more irritated about the woman honking behind me. 

She honked for the third time and when I looked at her in the review mirror this time she was pointing to the right.  I looked to my right and saw that the business entrance I was not blocking for those who wanted to turn in or pull out was a Chicken Express.

Suddenly I understood. By not blocking everyone else coming and going from Chicken Express, I WAS blocking her.  I was the one person between her and the promise of delicious fried chicken.  I mean, I’m a vegetarian and I want Chicken Express sometimes.  (They have the BEST fried pickles, not to mention all the other fried veggies.)

Well, by that time the people in the left lane had blocked the entrance from anyone in the other lanes being able to turn in, so I was only leaving it open for anyone who wanted to come out.  I thought, ‘Huh, maybe I should move forward.  I guess she thinks I’m being a jerk by not letting her in because let’s face it- it is all about HER in right now.’ 

But a devil had landed on my shoulder by that time- and he said, “You have the next 20 seconds of her life in your hands!”  An angel on the other shoulder said, “She just wants chicken and fried pickles! She thinks you are a jerk, don’t make her right!” 

I decided I was a jerk at that moment. I decided I was the master of her fate.  I decided she would learn patience at my will.  HER LIFE WAS IN MY HANDS!

James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” 

Then the light changed- and I put my husband’s silly car in gear and let the woman have her chicken.