Driving

God is positioning me so that I can learn to “drive” to heaven just as my son learns to drive a car. 

Matrix and Mother (Icon)

My eldest son is learning to drive.  He is the youngest child in his class at school, and this means that he was one of the last people to get his driver’s licence.

He watched his friends who are all older than he is, get their licence and begin driving lessons and he had to patiently wait for his opportunity to get into a car and behind a steering wheel.  On the day that he turned sixteen, he asked his father to take hi to apply for his licence and he got it.  That night – later – I took him out on the road for his first drive.

And it was a new experience for both of us.  Suddenly, something that appears so simple when someone else does it, actually was incredibly hard to do.  It was not as easy as manoeuvring the car around the road as he had watched his parents do, it was about looking forward and sideways and using mirrors and controlling speed and understanding where everything is in the car and remembering to look at what other people were doing.  It was about knowing that other people could make mistakes on the road that could affect him and that terrible things could happen even if he did everything right.

One of the most interesting things that I have learned in this experience of teaching my son to drive, is how frightening it can be on the road.  Things that are unusual or new are difficult to master and that means that there is a lot of considering and focus involved in driving.

I have been reflecting on that as I have reflected on how I have lived my life and how my life is impacted by the choices that I make and the choices of others that impact on my life.  After all, the purpose of my life is to prepare myself to be in heaven by knowing and loving and serving my Heavenly Father…

This means that it is really important to understand that God is positioning me so that I can learn to “drive” to heaven just as my son learns to drive a car.  And just as my son is uncomfortable in learning these skills, so too can I be uncomfortable in preparing for God.  And just as my son needs to practice the manoeuvres needed to become a competent driver and satisfy an examiner that he will be able to drive safely on the road, so too must I practice the behaviours that will allow me to remain receptive to the Grace of God, which will allow me to be saved.

And just like my son can only control a few things on the road and cannot control the behaviours of others, which may have an impact on him and his life, so too can I only control certain behaviours and controls in my own life to make sure that I am not placing myself into occasions of sin that would make it more difficult for me to be receptive to God’s Grace…

And I have been thinking about that today as I have been thinking about my son – driving…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.