Driving and I don’t always get along. I admit that I should pay better attention to my motoring skills. From the scrape on the passenger door of my mini-van to the cracked bumper, I have participated in enough fender-benders to keep my insurance agent in business.
Would it be okay to blame the inattentive driving on my three kids? Not every mom has to lip read her children in the rear view mirror to understand what they are saying. But I do because I’m hard of hearing. When it comes to sitting behind the wheel, my eyes are my ears.
During some mini-van excursions, my eyes focus on the cars ahead of me instead of the kids sitting behind me. Like magnets, bumper stickers catch my attention:
HOW AM I DRIVING? CALL 1-800-BAD-BOSS TO REPORT ME.
STAY 300 FEET BACK (NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR FLYING ROCKS).
PRAY! 
The last bumper message is something I should have been doing all along, instead of memorizing all the car stickers or talking to my kids through a mirror. Maybe if I prayed (with my eyes open, of course), I wouldn’t have backed the car up and side-swiped the passenger door against my mailbox.
Or I would have sensed God’s voice telling me to stop instead of rear-ending a dumpster. Maybe my van would still be in its pristine, straight-off-the-car-lot quality, instead of reeling with wounds.
But that visual reminder to pray did cause me to think about how attentive I am to God. When my life seems more at peace, it is because my eyes are on him. When my eyes sway off his path, I am left feeling anxious. If my driving skills are a metaphor for my spiritual life, then I am in big trouble!
The next time I am tempted to take my eyes off God’s plan for my life, I need to remember that simple, yet powerful, statement once spotted on the back of another beat-up car. When I pray, my attention focuses on the One who keeps me (and my kids) safe behind the wheel and in this life.
Here’s a new bumper sticker I’d love to create:
IGNORE THE DENTS. GOD’S STILL WORKING ON ME.
©2014 Written by a GateWay Volunteer
GateWay of Hope – The Helping Place for Hurting Women