Thursday, June 28, 2012

Caution lights and change…



I saw this new traffic light put up in a small town near where I live. It was flashing yellow.
It’s only the second traffic light in the city - obviously not a mega-metropolis. 
It’s a big change for folks in that place, since the other light has been there for well more than 20 years.  
I’ll bet that folks are reacting with a couple likely thoughts.
Why do we need another traffic light? Or…
It’s about time - that intersection is way too busy.
Maybe there are other reactions, but change happens, and so do caution lights, before the changes…

Parts of me hate change and parts of me love to embrace it quickly. I would think that most people have this mixed feeling about change too.
We like our daily routines, but we like vacations too.
We like driving the same way each day, but we like new scenery too.
We like sitting in the same spots at church, but we like a different view (once we try it) too.
Change is important and should happen to us all the time. Whether we like it or not, we are changing all the time.
We are getting older.
We are gaining new skills and learning.
We are maturing spiritually.
Even though change is often looked at as a negative, change is healthy and good for us and we really need to embrace the changes that come along, even if they make us uncomfortable.
The other part of note in this picture, is that a new traffic light always flashed caution for a week or so, in advance of it actually becoming an actual functioning traffic light. Often there are bright signs near it stating that there is a new traffic light, so people drive with caution and don’t miss it. I will bet that this new light is completely missed by several folks, that are in their daily routine, and fly right through it - hopefully there won’t be any accidents, but it happens all the time with change that’s coming forward.
There are lots of cautionary signs and lights in our lives, but we miss them sometimes.
We have to be attentive to our surroundings and watch out for the caution signals that life brings us. If we pay attention to the signal lights and signs, we can avoid the mistakes, sins and failures that are right around the corner and miss the accidents that hurt us. 
We have to vigilant and focused to embrace the changes that come our way, and yet be cautious enough to make sure that we don’t cause our own failures and downfalls, or we may just destroy our lives. 
I’ve seen car accidents because of alack of caution, but I’ve seen life accidents that are far worse, just because someone didn’t listen along the way, or missed all of the caution signs and signals. 
BTW - you may be that caution light for someone close to you. Take time to help others with loving caution lights too.
Lessons Learned: You can rebuild from your failures and trash form the past, but if you pay attention to God’s Word, you may not have to worry about as many failures to begin with.
Thoughts: Are you watching for the caution lights of change?
#failalot
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2 comments:

  1. Good insight, Craig. It seems like I usually see the caution lights after the change, and that's probably because I'm confortable in my routine.

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  2. We all get comfortable in our routines - thanks for reading so faithfully!

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