Cornermometer

 

I raised four children.  I’ve heard that gray hair is hereditary: you get it from your children.  Ha, ha!  But they were mostly a delight to raise.  But teaching them to drive was … well … an experience.  Early on I developed a device called a cornermometer.  I would lay my wallet on the dash and if it slid when they rounded a corner, they were taking the corner too fast.  But often they would use the cornermometer on me.  Poor form!  It isn’t fair to use dad’s words against dad.  I am usually a careful driver, and my children may or may not have followed in my footsteps.  Some of my children drive faster than me and some of my children drive slower than me.  Often, they move from one category to the other depending on how recent their most recent accident is.  Accidents have a tendency to slow us down, but time has a tendency to make us forget the most recent accident.  It’s like a pendulum with the most recent accident on the one side and careless driving on the other side.  Hey, our Christian life is the same way.  We grow cold and forget the good Lord.  Then problems come (like accidents) and we need God.  Then, we come back to the Lord (with our requests) and our relationship is restored.  But then we become complacent and our love for the Lord grows cold.  We call it backsliding.  Solomon was wise and said in Proverbs 30:7-9, “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”  Good words, Solomon, good words.  Give me enough, but not so much that I forget God.  Hey, like I needed my cornermometer to keep me driving carefully, we all need the dear Lord to keep us living circumspectly.