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October 11, 2005
Victory is NOT mine...
.. its God's. It is His Spirit who reminds me of my commitments to love my enemies. The tiniest thing happened yesterday. I've been a calm New York driver for months now. Yesterday someone honked at me while I was stopped at a red light. For those of you who don't know, in NYC there is no turn on red, unless a sign tells you otherwise. I was at one of the rare intersections that allow turning right on red. I didn't go because some people were crossing the street and after that I would've hit oncoming traffic if I went. Well, sometimes people really don't notice the sign and they never turn right no matter how clear it is, so people behind them start honking. I got honked at while I was waiting for a clearing in traffic. The guy assumed that I didn't know about the "turning is allowed" rule.
For the first time in months, my New York road rage crept its way in and I was ready to do whatever I could to annoy that guy. Images of me following him, tailgating and honking endlessly crossed my mind. God's presence kicked in and told me to pray for him. Nothing in me wanted to. I resisted all my temptations and asked God to bless that man. I asked that he could safely and quickly get where he needed to go and to give him strength to overcome his stressful life situations. As I prayed, I began to feel peace and a true desire for that man's welfare. Only the Spirit of God can do that.
I felt so powerless to overcome my anger. The only thing I could do was ask God. Victory does not feel victorious, it feels humbling. Thank you, God, for placing that man in my life to reveal my weakness.
Posted by fabijo at October 11, 2005 12:14 AM
Responses
Wow Amor! I know all about those "honkers"!
Praise God indeed that you didn't give in to those road rage desires. You never know what can happen with those.
We are on a similar journey of prayer, aren't we! :)
Posted by: Glassgirl at October 11, 2005 07:06 PM
Fab, that was really good and a very long thought out response to a little honking.
For me, detaching myself from negative reactions like anger while driving make it easy to just smile at the driver and let it roll off like water off a ducks back. It took many years and incidents of driving before I finally realized that the other cars do not have personalities, but are just people doing stupid things. Now, i forgive them their transgressions and go on affected. :)
Posted by: Pop at October 12, 2005 11:26 AM
Hey Fab, any new adventures at home?
Posted by: Pop at November 9, 2005 06:56 AM
I guess there's been some small adventures, but nothing like what Glaucia is going through. I'll make a blog entry soon I think. I've been trying to use my "free" time organizing the apartment a little.
Posted by: Fabio at November 9, 2005 08:32 PM