I often push a car with a full tank of gas.
But we’re accustomed to seeing the opposite happen. Someone is pushing their car because they ran out of fuel. Maybe we even stopped to help push and then drove them to the nearest gas station. This isn’t my dilemma. I have a full tank, but I prefer to push. For me, this is easier than relying on a strength that is not my own.
I am a lifelong church attendee. I have read the Bible, can quote numerous Scriptures, and assist in various church ministries. I have been on mission trips, sing praise songs, and have a tribe of friends who are good people. These are not bad things. They’re my genuine effort to seek God first. These choices have also protected me from the negative consequences of wrong choices.
What’s the problem then? Pride. It sneaks in so stealthily. Notice in the first sentences how many times I used the word I. Forget being filled with His power. I will just push this car along in my own strength, confident I’m going in the right direction and have everything under control.
God, however, does not run ahead of me, clearing all obstacles from my path. Instead, in His steadfast love, wisdom, and gentle mercies, He places some unscalable ones directly in my path. Failed relationships, poor health, financial hardship, major life transitions, grief, and chronic pain are some of the grace-obstacles He has used to bring about my transformation.
I’m better these days at recognizing when I’m pushing the car. I consider whether love, joy, and peace are easily visible to me when life is at its hardest. If so, I’m operating in His power because these fruits of the Spirit are impossible to mimic on my own. When life is rolling along smoothly, I replace the word love with my name to test if I am pushing the car. Margaret is patient. Margaret is kind. She does not envy, she does not boast, and she is not proud.
Instead of trudging through life pushing a car full of gas, I want to wait on the Lord, be renewed, and soar like an eagle. An eagle doesn’t frantically flap its wings, working hard to stay aloft. Instead, it spreads its wings as wide as possible and relies on an updraft of wind to glide high above the clouds.
Don’t push a car with a full tank of gas by relying on your own strength. Rely on God’s power instead.
Mary Margaret Dixon grew up on a farm in middle Tennessee, the second in a family of six children. She is married and has two sons. She enjoys making ugly spaces beautiful and devoting countless hours to the comfort of her dog, a sparkle-shedding, velvet-eared partial beagle.