"TO THE LEFT!
TO THE LEFT!"

Rene Phillips Qualls

It's January 1, 2001, and the clock at the bottom of my monitor screen, tells me that it is 1:09 A.M.  For some reason, I am always a little sad when the new year officially starts.  It feels as though I am saying "good-bye" to a comfortable old friend.  I was used to the old year, and now I must start all over, breaking in a new one.  And, I wonder what the new year will be like.

Will it be easy on me, or will it bring tough times?  Will I be good, and keep going straight, or will I veer off the road and run into something?

My sister Janet and I started driving when we lived in Alabama.  We lived in the country, and enjoyed driving down those back country roads.  We loved to drive fast.  Very, very fast.  (It was during this time that Dad acquired a lot of gray hair!)

Along the sides of the roads were mailboxes.  There are no sidewalks on country roads, so these mailboxes were very close to the edge of the road.  Janet and I didn't want to run the risk of crossing over to the other side of the road and into oncoming traffic, so we would drive as close as possible to the right side of the road.  Dad would be riding with us in the front passenger seat, and would soon start to sweat!  (This perspiring had nothing to do with the humidity!)  Soon, he couldn't take the stress of our driving so fast, and so close to those mailboxes, and he would start yelling, "TO THE LEFT!  TO THE LEFT!"  We would comply, but before long we would be back, driving with inches to spare between the car and the mailboxes!  Poor Dad.  However, he did brand into our brains this advice, so often given!

This experience came to mind while I was thinking about the new year.  I might start driving too fast down life's road, and instead of keeping myself going down the center of my lane, could get too close to some of those mailboxes!  The Gossip Mailbox.  The Worry Mailbox.  The Fear Mailbox.  The Anger Mailbox.  The Procrastination Mailbox.  The Compromise Mailbox.  The Despair Mailbox.  I don't want to hit any of these mailboxes, and end up paying for the damage caused by my veering to the edge of the road.  It's these times in my life, when I start to creep too close to the mailboxes, that I hope God starts yelling, "TO THE LEFT!  TO THE LEFT!"
 

Copyright © 2001  René Phillips Qualls  (Used by permission.)