This week as I was traveling on the highway, I noticed a long stretch of roadwork.  You couldn’t help but notice – they had pylons lining all four sides of the divided freeway!  Apparently, they are repaving both sides of the road.  Actually, they were just paving a section on the other side of the highway but they figured they would prepare everyone for the nightmare to come.  (They do say there are only two seasons in Canada:  winter and construction.)

My first thought on seeing the pylons was that the company that makes them must be worth millions! – there were literally thousands of pylons lining the highway.  The rows of pylons were endless … and that was just for one project!

Then I started thinking about these pylons from different perspectives.  For me, as soon as I see them, I think, “Oh great.  We’re going to be forced into one lane, traffic will be backed up forever, and we’ll be traveling (well, we won’t really be traveling … more like crawling) at 10 km/hr.  From my perspective, there’s nothing good about these pylons.  Besides getting funneled to one lane, people will try to butt in (I never do that), there will be no end in sight, and I’ll be late getting home.

I’ll get annoyed with the people driving in front of me who won’t keep up to traffic, making it easy for cars to cut in line.  I’ll try to analyze the drivers in front of me, and if they’re wearing a hat (other than a ball cap) I know they’re going to be slow.  They’ll continue to bug me unless I get past them (sorry to any hat wearers out there).  … My friend and I used to call these people “lids”, and if we got behind someone who was wearing a hat and going slow, we would call out (sometimes in unison) “LID”.  Say no more, we both knew what was ahead.

But the other perspective on these pylons comes from the road workers.  They view the pylons as a buffer between them and the frustrated drivers.  They feel safe on their side of the pylons, and even have a sense of security there, without fear that a car will take them out (even though a car weighs 3500 pounds and can travel at high speeds compared to a pylon that weighs 20 pounds and is stationary).  That’s pretty amazing.

Here’s the thing:  You view pylons as either good or bad depending on your perspective. And, we can look at God’s laws as a barrier, frustration, and inconvenience that keep us from doing what we want, or we can look at God’s laws as a buffer from disaster, as protection that gives us a sense of security even though it doesn’t provide a physical shield.

I used to say it’s easier to get forgiveness than to ask for permission, but that’s just an excuse for doing what you want.  God’s laws are good and He made them for us, not against us.  But we will only appreciate them if we take the perspective of the road worker.

I find I still have to change my perspective on some things.  Maybe I should start driving wearing a hat (maybe not).

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question: Which of God’s laws do you find yourself frustrated or annoyed with?