You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
-Isaiah 26:3
Quite a few years ago I was fortunate enough to travel to Italy. It was a lovely experience that I will never forget. I hope to take my loved ones to Italy someday to have some great company with me if I ever get to return.
When traveling to a different country, you notice many things that are very different from your native country. The sites, the history, the people, the language. It can be overwhelming.
Riding in a taxi from the airport to my hotel in Naples was overwhelming enough. In Italy, the highway may have 5 lanes painted in one direction, but there may be 7 or 8 lanes of traffic driving down this highway making their own lanes, disregarding the painted lines. That was wild enough. Now imagine in between the small area between those “created” and crowded car lanes, the occasional moped or motorcycle zipping past quickly! It seemed pure madness to a lady who was used to everyone staying in their own lane and driving in America.
The thing that was MOST peculiar about riding around in cars in Italy, though, was the use of the car horn. Sounds weird, I know. In America, if we hear a car horn, we know someone is usually angry with another driver. The American car horn is used as a tool of anger, yelling, or letting out frustrations. In Italy, I ONLY ever heard a car horn tapped lightly as a sort of warning or even a way of saying “excuse me.” These cars driving down multiple, unpainted lanes very politely yet quickly changed lanes. Before doing so, each driver gave a light tap of the car horn to say, “excuse me. I am coming over there now.” And this very polite way of driving worked! I still have no idea how motorcyclists zipped through without being harmed (often with multiple passengers-including small children), but the cars were very polite with their car horns at least!
What is my point? Perspective.
*A car horn can be an instrument of anger or an instrument to display good manners.*
*A Monday can be looked upon with dread or looked upon as the promise of a new week.*
*A storm can make me scared or make me sure that God is in control.*
*Uncertainties can make me worry or they can make me put my trust in the One who knows all.*
***
We can use our eyes to look around us at this world and all that it has to offer or we can use our eyes to look up at the Father and all He has in store for us.
I choose a perspective of godliness, gratefulness, and peace!
So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
-2 Corinthians 4:18
- Don’t Follow Me, Sometimes I Do Stupid Stuff - November 10, 2021
- How Does Your Garden Grow? - September 29, 2021
- But….am I REALLY Listening? - August 11, 2021