After an exhausting, very busy day at work. Jumping into the car I was so grateful that the Lord got me through the day. Nothing bad awful but work is work and we don’t have to let the circumstances spoil the day. Like Elisha, we need to cure the stew of our stewing anger or blues.

I caught the drive home news and it melted my perceptions of my day to nothing, so not important, BECAUSE there was a report of a road rage incident that caused a fatality, not far from where I work. Out of the blue or not, it’s more sad than any glad I could have… 

At that news then, I was flooded back with a memory from just this morning, a truck on my tail, honking his horn, being a jerk… I was not happy, I didn’t move over because he WAS honking, otherwise maybe I would have. Eventually I did get over and honked back. He didn’t get far, it was rush hour, he gained 2 car depths, I cooled down, he wasn’t worth it. This wasn’t road rage but pesky nipping at my bumper. I thought that it could have escalated but it didn’t and in these situations it IS better to get over and get over it and move on – Forgiveness over frustration.

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Forgiveness helps YOU – not necessarily them who won’t look back in their dust trail – but if we put down RAGE, we set the stage for PRAYER and forgiveness. Later now, I am also remembering my last big save from someone else’s REAL road rage – these incidents (plus whatever triggered the fatality (a shooting after some traffic incident)) remind us to cool it. I n that incident (years ago) I was too scared to rage back – and went immediately to begging forgiveness to calm the situation – and that did turn the page on his rage, as I hit the prayer stage. I forgave him instantly and he didn’t gain any more traction on me.

So – in this annoyance of a bumper bully, it was not that level of rage, even so I knew that I should pray. That prayer feeling rose in my guilt to pray for his forgiveness, so I decided to pray for my forgiveness as well as I also could have gone more aggressive. Surely the Lord, kept me cool. I prayed for safety for all of us on the road. No jerk is worth working your anger up even higher than your common sense. AND, I realized since I was listening to a favorite scripture story about being good soil, that I missed it all together in my distraction of thought watching what that bumper bully did next! Yeah, I was not absorbed in the Word because the thorns clogged my eyes and ears. We should wear thick skin, especially in traffic. Guard your heart. Change your rage to a prayer stage. And this forgiveness surely also allowed me to work at my work and put it behind me.

God is always reminding us that I am safe thus far. You bet He is. God reminding us that we have to NOT get “overwhelmed with me”, and focus on THEE. Yup. Guard your heart from yourself too.

A prayer stage is the basic stepping stone of our Rock, Jesus. We decide what we build our day our of: anger, jealousy, rage? Or prayers in humility, shining a light, being the salt, curing the stew?

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Curing the stew.

Elisha the prophet cured a poison soup by adding flour and surely God’s grace. Others had made it unknowing what they put in the mix was deadly. Likewise, we can try to stop the hate, anger, blind rage by adding FORGIVENESS. Jesus said forgive them for they know not what they do. People are clogged in blindness.

As like in road incidents, we don’t always know what triggers these mixes into life, and sometimes our actions or inactions, that would push on people’s hairline triggers. INSTEAD, let us mix FORGIVENESS into our stewing and taste the difference. Cool it.

Forgiveness goes a long way, and MUCH further than just 2 car lengths. 

Amen 

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2nd Kings 4:38-41

And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets.

And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not.

So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof.

But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot.