The other day I was driving down the road and met a car with a big yellow “Student Driver” sign on top of it. I sensed a teensy wave ripple across my placid mental waters and realized it was an irrational concern that this rookie driver might freak out and barrel into me.
My apprehension is no doubt misplaced. Beginning drivers haven’t logged the miles we oldies have, but with their hands gripping the wheel at the “10 and 2” positions and a healthy fear of being denied their driver’s license – the much-anticipated ticket into the broader pastures of adulthood — students drivers may be the safest bunch on the roads.
It’s the rest of us I should be worried about. Putting on lipstick, yapping on cell phones, sending text messages, changing CDs, tinkering with GPS systems, eating Big Macs, searching for lost pacifiers – driving distractions abound.
My husband and I have a running fuss when he fiddles around with his car gadgets while chauffeuring me. The big-boy toy array in his truck now includes a doohickey that displays everything but stock quotes as you drive – the outside temperature, how many miles per gallon you’re getting every second, how long until your gas tank goes dry, and so on.
And then there’s “Talky Tina,” our Australian-accented GPS (global positioning system) babe who takes robo-nagging to a whole new level, incessantly barking at us to “recalculate” until we comply or pull her plug. She gets on my last nerve.
These devices, and others, now clamor for my husband’s attention when he’s behind the wheel. But low-tech is not an option at our house. Joe must stay in touch with his inner nerd, who thinks it’s very cool to have a robot tell us how to drive across a town we’ve lived in for 30 YEARS. My inner nerd, however, withered and blew away in junior high school algebra class, so I don’t always share Joe’s enthusiasm for technology.
Hence, these driving distractions are not “marital aids.” In fact, it’s not unusual for me to remind Joe, using my unhappy voice, “Research has shown that you are as impaired as a drunk person right now!” if he is fooling with one of these gizmos while driving.
True, he’s not putting on lipstick or jotting down ideas for newspaper columns on old receipts as I occasionally do when I drive, but we all know that women multi-task better than … well, never mind. Maybe I won’t choose to die on that hill today.
My point is that it’s just way better to stay focused on the essentials of driving – “little” things like not drifting out of one’s lane or off the edge the road.
Distractions can be deadly. And that’s not just true on a literal highway; it’s also applies to the larger highway of life.
As Jesus said to his friends Martha and Mary (Luke 10:41-42): “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
What did Mary choose? To simply sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to Him, soaking up His every word.
We can get so distracted by the little stuff in our lives, and even by all of our religious activities, that we forget Jesus boiled it all down to two essentials: Love God and love others. Not passively or casually, but passionately. Love God passionately and we’ll find truth. Love others passionately and we’ll find purpose.
That’s the way to keep it on the road in this life.
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…” – Hebrews 12:2