It always seems like I'm the slow driver. I'm very much a rule follower, so I always go the speed limit, or one or two over. When I'm in a rush, I go 5mph over. Speedy huh? Not so much. Apparently few others think so, too. I drive 5 miles to work and cars gradually stack up behind me. The come up going 5 or 10mph faster than me and then are forced to go my speed, the speed limit. Or they pass me, that happens a lot, too. I rarely get stuck behind anyone, and I'm rarely not followed, which would lead me to believe I'm in the minority for driving right on the speed limit. Cause of other cars were going the speed limit, I would more often be not followed. Right?
I live in a beautiful place (see For The Beauty of the Earth http://teenreflectionsonlife.blogspot.com/2013/12/for-beauty-of-earth.html?m=1), but everyone seems to go too fast too appreciate it. And driving over the speed limit is against the law. Maybe we can't smell the flowers, since we're enclosed in a box of shiny metal, but we don't need to go by them so fast the only way we're noticeable is the light breeze we leave behind full of our exhaust fumes. Take a lttlw time to roll down the window and ejoy the breeze, put some uplifting music on, not get a speeding ticket, take in the scenery around you. It's nice - I can testify.
Unless my car's speedometer is malfunctioning, That's possible, too.
I am prideful. Coming from that, I am perfectionistic, over-achieving, and sometimes vain. As a result of these, especially the first two, I am confident and fairly successful. Those might be looked at as positive characteristics, but I struggle with humility, am quick to judge a poor performance of myself or others, and consider myself entitled to high achievements. Lo and behold: I'm human.
I'm not proud of this (not proud of my pride?), but it will probably be a lifelong fight to overcome myself, something I know I'll only ever be able to accomplish by God's grace. I find it ironic that I tend to be good at almost everything I put my mind to, that this has caused me to be proud, and that this pride is what causes me to be bad at something: humility.
Now, I said almost everything. I am capable of everything to some extent, but I definitely have some places where I don't have an inborn talent. For example, my sister, Teresa, is a way better athlete than I am. She does the workout videos with Dad and she can run a mile a lot faster than I can and she excels at soccer and track and netball. It always frustrates me when something reminds me that she's more athletic than me because I wish I could be like her, but I can't. Another example is music; my lack of the ability to play an instrument doesn't cause as much frustration as sports do, maybe because I can sing, but it's still an area in which I'm not especially talented. I watch Matt play the guitar and I'm fascinated by the movement of his fingers, or another friend will talk about music theory and playing classical piano and most of what he says goes straight over my head. I'm just not as strong in these fields as in others.
My frustration is the wrong reaction. Multiple places in the Bible it says the body is made up of many parts, and each has its own function. In Romans 12 it says
3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. (Romans 12:3-5, NLT, biblegateway.com)
Um, message from the Lord to me at all? This has really been striking me as I've read through and memorized Romans this year for Bible Quizzing. "Don't think more highly of myself than I ought to think." A better reaction would be to support those who have talents different than mine and cheerfully accept help when they offer.
I really like colors. And certain designs. And for things to flow a certain way. And I've realized that whenever I get an idea for a piece of clothing or a pair of earrings or some other accessory, the designers who get paid all the money haven't yet been inspired to create my idea. Come, now, that's your job! No, I'm kidding, they have lots of other ideas, but this lack of my ideas being produced has led me to learn to sketch and sew and bead. I've done my own dresses and I bead quite regularly (also brought on by my inability to wear any metal but gold), I just haven't figured ot the shoe bit yet. I'll get there... maybe. I'm not aiming to be a fashion designer at all, I don't get inspirations that regularly, I just know how to create and fulfill my dreamed up items.
Anyway, one of my more recent projects, since I started driving, was to create a key chain for my keys. I knew I needed something long, something that would stand out, but I didn't feel like spending money. So... I created it. A bunch of colorful, textured, unique accent beads, all strung onto a wire and attached to my key chain. Pretty!
It didn't last very long before that wire snapped and all the beads tumbled into the cracks and crevices of my car. Okay. I can solve this. Three wires! After all, three cords cannot be broken, right? That lasted about twice as long. Two of the wires snapped, and I set the beads aside for a couple weeks until I could have time to repair it.
This time, I've used a single wire and a single piece of string. Alright, I've not been using it for as long as the other two took to break yet but I have my hopes up. It got me thinking... when it's three wires, those wires will all snap under the same circumstances. Bend the whole thing too hard, and it all breaks. String, on the other hand, breaks when it is continuously rubbed. So if the wire is combined with the string, they'll be stronger together both because they are two and because they are different.
Same thing works with people. Put two people who work the same way and put them both in a difficult situation, they'll both break at the same time. But put two differently-minded people together, and they can support each other through the different snapping points. That's why we need friends and family who aren't the same as us.
Anyway, I'll let you know if my key chain breaks.
