Learning to Drive

Abigail is learning to drive. I’m learning patience.
Now that she has her permit she has staked a claim to the front left seat of the car – the driver’s side. You’d think the girl had just crossed hundreds of miles of treacherous terrain whilst fightin’ the savages in order to possess this small piece of real estate. She thinks she has some inalienable right to drive on every occasion. Last night it was time to leave church so she assumed the throne of teen independence and reached for the keys. I yielded knowing that to protest that it was dark and that I hadn’t brought the defibrillator wasn’t much of an excuse to not let her drive. So off we went. It is my habit to not speak too loudly about her driving but to offer quiet, assuring words of correction. There was that one time that “STOP!” was necessitated by circumstances that are better not spoken of … ever again. Anyway, I was offering a few suggestions when Zackary spoke up from the back seat and said matter-of-factly, “Abigail, objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” Now, Zackary could not see the mirror from his seat and it was dark. Apparently he had committed the words to memory, waiting on an appropriate time to offer his suggestion from his vast wealth of driving experience. Normally, that would have been enough to send Abigail clamoring over the seat to put Zackary in a hold that would make the World Wrestling Federation proud. However, she was concentrating on driving so she ignored him.

“Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” What was he thinking? No doubt he wanted to be helpful but what was Zackary offering? Maybe a warning as in, “Abigail, that Mack truck is really close.” Maybe it was a statement of fact as in, “Abigail, that’s a Mack truck, not a Tonka toy.”

Who knows? Jesus may have found the same words useful in his day. Actually, it seems he may have said something sort of similar. “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” Or how about, “The kingdom of God is at hand.” If you are like me, I tend to think that the kingdom of God is a good ways out there. It is far enough for me to have time to get things right. We (I) talk like we believe the kingdom will one day come, but, come on, really? We’ve got time. Objects in mirror are cl…o…ser than … Oops! You don’t even have to read the fine print. It’s as plain as that Mack truck. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is at hand.” The word means “at arm’s reach” or “it can be touched”. In other words, the kingdom is here! God’s kingdom, God’s reign, is now. We’re not waiting for it, we are living it. The question is, “How are we living it?” “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,” we pray. How about we all climb down from our own throne of independence and let God . . . well, you know.

(Addendum: This story came to mind this week as Abigail, a year later, had her first major wreck. I say first because I anticipate more. My car might be totaled. The important thing though is that she was perfectly fine afterward except for a bit of the jitters. That object in the mirror was really, really close!)