Many years ago on a trip to New England with my parents, we were crossing Pennsylvania on Route 80. At that time, there was considerable construction on that highway and the state had installed rumble strips to alert traffic to it. These strips were very aptly named as the car truly did rumble when it crossed them; and on this trip, we must have crossed one every 10 minutes for about two hundred miles! Plus, to make matters worse, I was pregnant and carsick. Every time I would manage to doze off to ease my symptoms, I would be awakened by the rumbling. It was so unnerving that we finally stopped at a rest area to inquire how much further the strips continued. We were told by the woman at the information desk that they continued until the end of PA, which was about another hundred miles. The alternative was to drive down to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which would have added about two hours to our trip. After confirming that I would be able to tolerate it, my dad decided to stay on Route 80. The couple standing next to us opted for the turnpike. After we got back on the road, the rumble strips stopped in about 10 miles. Apparently, the woman at the rest area was misinformed. I always felt sorry that couple who drove so far out of their way.
When I think about this story, it reminds me how life can be sometimes. Life is a journey – a million ‘trips’ to a million destinations. These are not always literal trips, but they all involve movement of some sort. It may be movement of our bodies or of our thoughts. It may be changing locations or changing our minds. Sometimes these trips come off without a hitch, but sometimes there are bumps in the road, detours, or even dead ends.
Imagine yourself on your way toward something you really want to do. You are prepared, you are excited, you are ready to go. You start your trip, and all is well. Suddenly, an unanticipated problem arises (an annoyance, a hinderance, an unforeseen predicament). You are then faced with a decision. How are you going to handle this circumstance? There are negative choices – freak out, get angry, quit. Or you can be solution-minded. You must decide which direction your thoughts are going to travel.
On the trip mentioned above, I started out being positive, “This isn’t so bad, I can handle it”. But as the annoyance persisted, I grew more and more uncomfortable. My thoughts traveled toward focusing on my discomfort, and I started getting cranky. I began with the best intentions of handling the situation with a positive attitude. But since I didn’t see a resolution in a timeframe or manner that suited me, I got frustrated and slipped into a negative pool of thought, which was manifested by complaining. Being cranky doesn’t help any situation, nor does complaining. And frustration is a sneaky enemy.
You know – negative thoughts really are pools – actually cesspools. Picture a pool of filthy water in your backyard. Normally you avoid even getting close to it, but once in a while you walk over to check it out. The water might not look too bad, and you might think it’s ok to jump in; but if you do, you find out that it’s just a disgusting mess. Maybe you are randomly wandering around your backyard and fall into the pool. In either case, you soon realize that being in that pool is not where you want to be, and you must get yourself out. When we find ourselves in a pool of negative thoughts, the way out is achieved by replacing our negative thoughts with positive ones.
Now picture the same pool in your neighbor’s backyard. How do you react if you see that they have fallen in? You might see them flailing around and want to run away. Or you might think, “that’s their problem”. There may even be times that you do the unthinkable – and jump in with them. But none of those are good reactions. The best thing that we can do for someone who is in a pool of negative thoughts is throw them a rope of positive words to help them get out. We don’t judge because we know that we’ve spent time in our own pools. And we’re not hesitant to help because we know that we have needed help before too.
That’s a little side trip about pools, but now we’ll get back to our travels…
We cannot always prevent obstacles from getting in our way on our journeys in life. They are usually as unforeseen as they are unwanted. But we can decide which way our trip will proceed. Are we going to rise above or succumb to negative pressures? Are we going to remain optimistic or give in to pessimism? Will we be solution-minded or get talked out of our ideals? We may need to change the road we’re on, maybe it’s a dead end or full of potholes. We may need to stay where we are and patiently continue to persevere. (Along those lines, there is a saying, “this too shall pass”, which always seems to help me.) Whatever we need to do, we must stay determined to not give up. We can change directions, we can regroup, we can start over, but we cannot quit!
Who would have ever guessed that there would have been 200 miles of rumble strips on the highway? (Note to my younger readers – this was before GPS!) But you know what? After those stupid strips ended, the highway seemed as smooth as glass, and the rest of the trip was pleasant. I give my dad a lot of credit for being patient through the whole ordeal. It was one of those situations that we kept thinking, “surely this will end soon”, but it didn’t. And then we found ourselves so far along, we couldn’t turn back. So we had to keep moving forward despite the hinderance. It was a real exercise in managing frustration, which I didn’t accomplish very well.
No matter where our life’s travels take us, we may run into obstructions. It’s just the way the world works. How we handle those impediments makes all the difference in how our trip turns out. Jumping into the pool of negatives doesn’t help anyone. Ignoring a problem doesn’t solve it. Quitting NEVER works. But things like patience, endurance, and positive expectations can turn an obstacle into a victory.
Of course, not all of our travels will meet with difficulties. It would be hard to accomplish anything if they all did. Smooth sailing is a good thing! But we may take those times for granted. Often it seems we revel in the difficult times rather than the easy ones. We should always remember to be thankful for the easy trips. I know that overcoming adversity is wonderfully satisfying and I certainly love to hear success stories. But just because there didn’t appear to be an obstacle to overcome doesn’t mean that trip was not a victory.
I learned this lesson quite a number of years ago. A great man, affectionately known as Uncle Harry talked about a car trip from New Knoxville to Dayton Ohio. There was a rather severe snowstorm, but the trip needed to be made. So he and those traveling with him prayed for a safe journey. And when they returned to New Knoxville, Uncle Harry asked a group of us if we wanted to hear about the trip. The answer was a resounding “yes”. He said, “We had to drive to Dayton in a snowstorm. So we prayed for safe travels and now we’re back.” He must have seen all our faces drop in disappointment. So he continued, “Were you expecting me to say something like we slid on the ice for a mile, bounced off 3 cars, hit the guardrail and continued unharmed?” (Which was exactly what I was expecting). But he explained, “We prayed for safe travels and God answered our prayer. We had a safe trip. Just because there wasn’t a dramatic rescue, doesn’t mean that God wasn’t protecting us.”
I wholeheartedly believe that God wants us to be happy and blessed. Why wouldn’t He? I surely want my children to be happy and blessed. God is always ready and willing to take care of us. But He can’t help us when we are wallowing in the sludge of negativity; because negative thoughts oppose God and therefore tie His hands. But when we cast our cares on Him, God is able to go to work for us. We, by ourselves cannot fix most of the problems in our lives, but God CAN. He knows the right path through the wilderness. He can make a way where there is no way.
Psalm 103:5
Who [God] satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
In your travels, why not allow God to illuminate your path and lighten your load? He can and will guide your steps, especially over the rumble strips of life.
Note to my readers: Happy Trails! Thanks for reading!