Last week I shared about tackling a stretch of road that had terrified me for years. I had always driven along the route as a passenger and thought to myself, this might be more than I can handle – until I decided to stop letting fear have that much control over my life.
After I had written the post last week, and later in the day, my sister in law came to visit me. She is a local and while she doesn’t drive these particular roads every day, she drives them more frequently than I do.
As we went out on an adventure, and I sat in the car, I realized that she and I were consistently driving at the same pace.
I marveled and commented at the pace she was driving, having felt that I’d been going far slower than most other drivers. Her response was simple: I don’t allow the other drivers to intimidate me, I drive at the pace that I can control my vehicle if anything were to happen and I need to react.
Wow!
Those few words changed my view and have had me mulling them over my mind for the last week.
I don’t need to let anyone rush me into thinking I need to be doing anything faster than I currently am. This sentiment goes for all areas of life, not just driving.
While I had a different version in my head of things I said to myself when I felt like I wasn’t making progress fast enough, this is a new one that I can certainly add: Go at your own pace.
Don’t try to go too fast that you could potentially end up losing control or not enjoying the process along the way.
And guess what? Those words carried me through the next day when I had to drive the opposite direction – I went at my own pace – even pulling off a few times to allow others who were going much faster than me to pass me by. I no longer needed to feel bad that I wasn’t going the same pace as them.
Dear Heavenly Father, would you please remind me that this life is not for the swift but for those who can endure? Help me to go at the pace that you’ve set for me, while allowing me to enjoy the moments. Help me not to get too fixated on speeding ahead that I forget the beauty that is all around when I take the time to notice.