Read: Romans 15:13 & Psalm 32:10
It’s road trip time.
The car is packed to the brim, the music playlist is queued, and the snack bags are full. Maybe you’re always the driver. You are the one who loads up on an extra cup of coffee so you can wake up earlier (or stay up later) when driving necessitates it. There’s no way you’d hand the keys over to anyone else. You are vigilant about driving, passionate even.
Or maybe you’re the passenger. You happily relinquish your hold on driving privileges because you know there’s something better in it for you if you sit next to the driver instead: Scenery.
I remember a particularly scenic drive my husband and I took a few years back. We left mid-morning for a ten-plus hour drive to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We’d never been there before. I can’t read maps. I was assuredly and unashamedly happy to let him drive.
Had I been stubborn and forced my way to the wheel, I would have undoubtedly gotten us lost. Or at least strayed off course, tagging on a couple hours to our trip time. And also I knew that this was going to be some of the best scenery my eyes had ever seen. I didn’t want to miss a thing.
The last two hours of the drive were totally worth my being stationed in the passenger’s seat. The dusk into darkness views were ethereal, surreal, beautiful. The narrow, endless bridges, the foggy horizon, even the brief sightings of wild animals (foxes, coyotes) alongside the road. I loved every bit of it.
Taking control of the trip and the wheel would have focused me on everything but the beauty that surrounded me. I held no fear, no uncertainty, felt no compulsion to be serious. I merely enjoyed my experience with abandon and joy, marveling at God’s creation and how, at that very moment, He was letting me view it up close.
Trusting in God to take control fills us with peace beyond compare, but also with joy. There’s something purely divine about totally letting Him take control of things for you…big things, but also little things.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
“The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and He helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise Him.” Psalm 28:7
