A Better Me

Every year I try to give up something in recognition for Lent. It is so that we are constantly reminded what Jesus gave up for us. However my mom pointed out to me that you don't necessarily have to give up something to observe Lent. You can also take on something. Something that will better you. That will make you more of a person that God can be proud of. So I took that into consideration when this year's Lent rolled around. I tried hard to think of something that I needed to mend about myself. I mean I thought HARD. It was extremely difficult to come up with something. Just kidding!

I immediately knew what I needed to do. I have terrible road rage. It is awful. I have no patience when it comes to incompetent drivers. And one of my biggest pet peeves is when you let someone into traffic and they do not wave. I just can't stand the sense of entitlement people seem to have when out on the road. And it causes me to not let the next person in. I know that is awful but it is true. I don't understand the lack of use of blinkers, the driving slow in the left hand lane, all of it just drives me insane.

But I have a son now and my actions will most definitely affect him and he will mirror what he observes me doing in every day life. I don't run people off the road or anything but I have terrible thoughts of what I would LIKE to do these idiots and I yell at them REALLY loud inside my car. I don't want Gavin to add to the madness that is already out there on our streets. So this year, in honor of Lent, I told myself I was going to get rid of this rage I had while driving. And, people, this might seem trivial to you but for me, it was a HUGE undertaking. It was a slow process and I have to admit, there were quite a few times I could not hold it in and those people got a major tongue lashing from me. And every time I slipped up, I felt awful. I would look and see my sweet boy in the back seat with his innocent, untarnished face and know I HAD to get this under control. So I came up with a trick. Any time someone didn't use their blinker or cut me off in traffic, I just silently forgave them. It gave me something to do besides gets mad and yell. And I started to notice something. I started to notice the amount of people that DID wave at me and DID use their blinkers. Practically everyone waves here. It was so refreshing to not look for the negative. I noticed today that Easter has come and gone and I am still forgiving without even thinking about it. I am so proud of myself. I know I have become a better person for it but even more importantly, so will my son.