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Yesterday I talked about how I usually only have two gears: Top and Park. I know that God is working to develop other gears in me. To that end, in response to yesterday’s post, my friend Sara left me the following message:

route 66-3You said that slowing down is kind of flying in a holding pattern, but I feel like God wants me to tell you it’s not. A holding pattern wastes time and fuel, it’s frustrating and usually accomplishes nothing. Instead, I feel like living life in this middle gears is more like a drive down Route 66, yeah there are faster ways to get where you’re going and sometimes those faster ways are fun (especially in the right car. 🙂 ) but other times you have to get off the highway and take the locals. There are diners to eat at, shops to visit and people to meet on these slow paced detours, but you never regret them and they are never a waste of time. So don’t just fly in circles and waste your fuel, instead take a breath and enjoy the scenery.

Well, Sara. That sounds like wisdom. I have never been one for the middle. Mid Gears to me seemed like trying, but not trying hard enough. My young and dumb mentality has done me well and caused me pain. I know that the balance of the middle is where I’m being led.

route 66-1Thanks for helping me shape that a bit more in my thinking. It is not simply resigning myself to neutral, or just as you put it “wasting fuel.” You are so right. This is going to be where I need to learn to not just spend most of my life, but to LIVE most of my life. Every now and then I will have the right opportunities or the right locations to gas it up and coast full speed, but most of the time I need to be able to find a pace, find a steady flow, to sit in the pocket of life where God and I just share space and I listen to his voice so clearly. When I’m parked it is very easy to hear Him telling me to get moving, which I respond with, “Ok, time for full speed ahead.”
But yet another reminder that at Top Gear it is sometimes more fruitful but his voice is more easily drowned out by the sound of the speeding tires on the pavement and the gush of wind.
route 66-4Route 66 living huh?
I love it. Now to live it.
I remember the last time I sought balance this intentionally I created a pie chart of my time spent and started to create new habits to work towards balance. Something about that whole process for me sounds so sterile. I apparently LOVE structure. I struggle staying within it, but I love creating it.
I think that is why Route 66 is so hard for me, because it feels so…so… Free.
“Christ has set us free! This means we are really free. Now hold on to your freedom and don’t ever become slaves of the Law again.” (Galatians 5:1 CEV)
I am someone who craves rules and frameworks. I have suffered often from my default to legalism in my faith. Having firm guidelines are so much more predictable than a Route 66 life, but is predictability what God has called me to?
I am feeling challenged in this and that is definitely what God wants. I will need to stay super tight with Him, to feel Him move, to follow the ebb and flow, to know when the cloud moves and at what pace it moves.
If you are like Sara, and have a reaction to something I’ve written please do send it to me or reply below. God uses us all and I hope that He will continue to use you in my life.
Here’s to your Route 66 dreams!
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