Dear Friends,
With all the snow we get, in this season I was remembering the first time I plowed back when I worked for Public Works. For the first several hours I "rode shotgun" a colorful term for sitting on the passenger side of the cab and watching for potential hazards on that side of the truck. Sitting beside my partner, plowing looked like a "piece of cake," as I watched him plow clean paths curb to curb, effortlessly gliding between parked cars and around corners with the fluid grace of an ice skater. But then it was my turn to plow.
We were using the truck that would be my vehicle when I would be out on my own. It was an old White Company five-speed dump truck. The cab was higher than the other more modern trucks, with an ornery stick shift that wanted to wrestle every time a gear change was required. I realized immediately that my perspective from the passenger side was not the same as behind the wheel. Driving along, I was a foot and a half away from the curb, but I was sure that I was plowing people's front lawns. Going around the corners, I left snow in the middle of the street, and going around parked cars, I slowed to a snail’s pace, trying hard not to do unauthorized body work.
I’m so glad that I had a good partner with me that first time. He didn't get impatient or frustrated. He realized that it would take some time for me to develop the perspective and the finesse to plow the clean smooth paths he made. And whenever I made a mistake, he said, "That's alright, you'll get it next time around."
I was thinking that might be a good way to look at life, perhaps especially during the season of Lent, when we concentrate so much on examining our lives, and considering making changes. Sometimes we get pretty hard on ourselves during Lent, with its' emphasis on self deprivation and repentance. But the good news is that God, like my understanding partner, doesn't worry about our poor perspective, or the mistakes we make, or the time it takes for us to change or learn. God just hopes we’ll get in the driver’s seat. Knowing that, we can simply accept the freedom God gives you and me to say to ourselves, "It's OK, I can do it better the next time around,” and that God is with us all the way.
Love, Ed