The current pandemic has triggered unprecedented events, including our youngest daughter’s recent college campus closure. The school ordered students to vacate on short notice, continuing all coursework online for the rest of the semester, so we suddenly needed to get her moved back home. We and our daughter‘s older sister caravanned down on Saturday morning thinking we’d easily be back by 4:00 PM.
After packing her dorm room’s contents in three cars, we were ready to head home … and suddenly my car key would not fit into the ignition! I tried shoving the key in multiple times without success. My patient wife finally wiggled it in, but then the key simply would not turn, no matter what we did. We sent the sisters home at that point. After multiple phone calls, I reached a recommended locksmith. He drove their mobile unit to the campus, estimating the job would take one to three hours.
My wife stuck around a long time before driving home. Five dark and cold hours after his arrival, the locksmith had my steering column reassembled and my car purring once again! And despite a harrowing construction-zone drive with threatening concrete barriers lining the highway (plus rain and dense fog), I finally arrived home at 10:30 PM.
But God had lovingly prepared me for this unexpected inconvenience as we drove to the college that morning. Carrie shared a short podcast that basically explained we can’t control “the cards we’re dealt,” but we can develop skill in how we “play our hand.” So eventually, no matter our “hand”, we can navigate successfully. Accepting the fact that we can’t control every situation, calmly evaluating our options, and choosing the best one, is the way to go. This unflustered approach requires and builds character. Instead of dissipating our energy in unfruitful negative emotion (reaction), we can channel it to find solutions (productive response).
This card game analogy mirrors biblical principles. James 1:2-3 encourages us to count it all joy when given an opportunity to develop patience. Romans 5:3-4 reminds us that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. And Galatians 5 reinforces such character qualities in the fruit of the Spirit.
So on the heels of hearing that impeccably-timed message, my car key problem provided a marked opportunity to practice. I skipped the emotional reaction altogether, and peacefully considered our options. God led us to a solution that avoided alternatives involving much more hassle and greater cost.
The Word tells us not to let our hearts be troubled, not to be anxious about anything, because anxiety and worry don’t help; they only paralyze. You’ll make no more forward progress being fretful than I did with broken lock tumblers in my car’s ignition. So the next time something doesn’t go your way, sidestep frustration and anxiety, and instead patiently expect God (who is able to work all things together for your good) to lead you to a solution. Make that your way of life, and you’ve found a key to becoming mature and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:4).
