Driving Forward

When my mother was 16, her aunt taught her how to drive. She went for a visit, spent a week, and learned how to drive. My grandmother didn't drive, and my grandfather was working out of town at the time, so my aunt was "it."

The only problem was that Aunt Sue didn't teach Mom how to back up. She could only drive forwards. When it was time to pull out of the driveway, Mom just turned in a circle in the front yard, and pulled out. It makes one wonder if she ever used the rear view mirror at all.

When I started to drive, Mom and I went to an empty parking lot, and I learned how to back up. Mom was determined. I am an excellent backer-upper, thanks to this repetition to learn the skill.

The Disciplines writer for Monday's devotion talks about life being like driving a car while watching in the rear view mirror. The significance of life's events only make sense if we look at them in the past. But that's no way to drive a car!

In the book Prayer, Yancey says, "What is faith, afterall, but believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse?"

God has cared for us in the past; faith is having the trust to believe that he will care for us in the future. "We have always done it that way," is not a faithful response.

When we know God is holding us in the palm of his hand, then we are empowered to step forward in faith, not understanding the designation of the path we travel or the viability of the side roads that we might pass. There becomes no need to look a the past, but, in faith, we can examine the future with the trust that God will be there with us.

We can save the reverse gear for leaving the driveway.