Tale of Two Cars

The other day our family was running errands together. My husband was driving and we were hopping from store to store. As we drove from one parking lot to another, my husband accidentally pulled out in front of a young lady. It wasn't a close call, but he clearly should have waited for her to go first. He actually didn't see her and lifted his hand in apology right away. The young lady just happened to be going to the same store and parked near us. My husband saw her in the parking lot and apologized to her face. She dismissed him and said it was no big deal, he didn't need to worry about it. A nice friendly exchange.

The very next day I was driving back from the grocery store. I was at an intersection in town where my view to the left was blocked by a retaining wall. I looked, and I didn't see anything, but of course there was a car coming and I pulled out to turn left in front of it. I immediately put up my hand of apology and said "Sorry." The on coming car (which was never close to hitting me as we are all going 25mph) was being driven by a man, about his mid to late 30's. He also put up his hand, to my surprise he only waved one finger at me....I have no idea what his mouth was saying. My first thought was, "really? I crossed a lane of traffic in front of you to head the other direction. You probably didn't even need to hit the brake, just remove your foot from the gas. You feel the need to cuss at me for that?"

In both situations we were in the wrong. We needed to be more careful and look more intently at the traffic. However, it really got me thinking about how we react to others. Each and every day we find ourselves in situations that encourage our response, will it be positive or negative? Is someone making a simple mistake truly cause for us to jump into a verbal or even physical rant? I think not.

We have been working with our children and their responses. Many times they are abel to respond with  gentleness, self-control and kindness. However, there are also many times that they respond with harsh tones and a lack of self-control. In those instances, we ask our children to try again. They are asked to take a step back and think about a better way to respond to the situation. There are many times that they get it right the second time, but if I am honest with you, there are also many times when they need to "try it again" three or four times. It is our hope that by having our children practice responding to their siblings and their parents with gentleness, self-control and kindness, that this practice will help them to develop the ability to respond to others the first time with the respect they deserve.

My prayer is that when our children are grown and faced with a car that accidentally cuts them off, that they will be generous and forgiving. I pray also that I may be an example of that type of self-control. May God bless us all as we help the children He has given us, walk this life with the self-control our responses require.