Lesson #5 - Learn Your Lessons or Beware the Consequences
There have been a few times in my life that I can distinctly remember God teaching me a lesson a hard way about Breaking My Mold when I refused to learn the lesson on my own.
I was telling a story to a coworker yesterday and it reminded me of one of those times.
Sometimes, Breaking Your Mold can be as simple as breaking bad habits. I had a very bad habit of driving aggressively and dangerously at one point in my life. I knew I shouldn't drive as bad as I did. I knew I had a bad case of Road Rage and I knew it was wrong. But, I just kept on doing it anyway.
Part of my problem was that I was constantly late. Everywhere I went, I was late. I was late one Sunday morning going to wait tables at Roadhouse. I left the house late and was driving down one of the main roads in McKinney. Well, the speed limit was 40 (too slow for me) and no one in Collin County drives fast on a Sunday morning. It's as if they are just taking their time, completely unaware that people like me still had to be at work and I was late, how could you not know that people!!!!
Well, I was driving especially bad on this morning. I was weaving in and out of traffic and even cut off a couple on an overpass on the highway.
I rushed and parked my car, hopped out of my car and ran inside, oblivious to the fact that this couple was watching me the entire time as they, too, parked at Roadhouse and were going there to eat lunch.
I walked in and stood by the front door, waiting for my first table. The gentleman I cut off walked right past me and said, "Nice driving." I was MORTIFIED. Then I watched as the hostess sat him smack dab in my section.
As embarassed as I was, I learned a very important lesson the hard way. But, I learned it. I wish I knew that guy's name, I would knock and his door to thank him for keeping me accountable to my bad habit. God was speaking through him, knowing that even though I was humiliated, He was saving me from having to learn a worse, even fatal, lesson to be learned about my driving later in life.
Now, even though I still get frustrated, driving to me is put in perspective. I still get upset at my husband when he goes the "shortcut" around traffic that takes us 15 minutes longer, or when he stays behind a car going 10 miles less than the speed limit. Sometimes, he keeps his mouth shut but other times he looks at me and says, "Why are you in such a hurry! Just be quiet and enjoy the ride?"
I guess lessons are always taught and even after you learn them, it's still a process to re-learn them. I guess Breaking Your Mold is a process as well.
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