The United States has always had a complicated relationship with its motherland—Great Britain.
While we celebrate our British lineage through town and state names, our legal system, and much of our government structure, we made it a point to distinguish ourselves as well—from how we write the date (Month/Day/Year was first used on the Declaration of Independence) to which side of the road we drive on.
We have been very intentional in creating an American culture and way of life. Which was why I was surprised when roundabouts began showing up in my town. I thought American cities lived and breathed the traffic lights, and small towns took pride in their first stop sign. However, we now have three—count them—three roundabouts in town, and two have been built correctly—with a raised center island.
This raised center has a two-fold purpose: to be more visible to approaching drivers, but also to slow drivers down. If the island wasn’t there, then drivers could cut across. If the island wasn’t raised, then drivers could look ahead, judge the oncoming traffic, and not adequately reduce their speed. The raised island forces drivers to slow down and look only to his or her left — no more — and then move.
God, in His infinite wisdom has given us spiritual roundabouts. When something looms ahead of us, we are forced to slow down and approach with our full attention on what is most immediate, but we are not allowed to look across to the future.
If we could look ahead and see all that was entering the roundabout, we might get discouraged and miss our window of opportunity and blessing.
The unknown is always a bit scary but as Holocaust survivor Corrie Ten Boom said, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
While we celebrate our British lineage through town and state names, our legal system, and much of our government structure, we made it a point to distinguish ourselves as well—from how we write the date (Month/Day/Year was first used on the Declaration of Independence) to which side of the road we drive on.
We have been very intentional in creating an American culture and way of life. Which was why I was surprised when roundabouts began showing up in my town. I thought American cities lived and breathed the traffic lights, and small towns took pride in their first stop sign. However, we now have three—count them—three roundabouts in town, and two have been built correctly—with a raised center island.
This raised center has a two-fold purpose: to be more visible to approaching drivers, but also to slow drivers down. If the island wasn’t there, then drivers could cut across. If the island wasn’t raised, then drivers could look ahead, judge the oncoming traffic, and not adequately reduce their speed. The raised island forces drivers to slow down and look only to his or her left — no more — and then move.
God, in His infinite wisdom has given us spiritual roundabouts. When something looms ahead of us, we are forced to slow down and approach with our full attention on what is most immediate, but we are not allowed to look across to the future.
If we could look ahead and see all that was entering the roundabout, we might get discouraged and miss our window of opportunity and blessing.
The unknown is always a bit scary but as Holocaust survivor Corrie Ten Boom said, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
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