While driving from South Charlotte to the church this morning I was made aware of a traffic term that describes a requirement of our faith and of living in community. Because I drive I485 in the mornings there are many places where yielding is necessary---the places where people are merging on to 485 from on ramps--people joining me on the road. Yielding is necessary when the traffic is heavy and another person needs to get over into "my" lane--a yielding is necessary for sharing the lane with the merging driver. I have a pet peeve that puts my spirit in the wrong "gear"....I can hardly tolerate drivers who don't use their blinkers and I tend to be quick on the horn in response. Yield takes on a new meaning in this situation for me.   AND this morning I got "honked" at too! Ahhhh, yielding is a gracious practice.

Yielding is a practice and a rule of traffic that keeps us safe allowing for merging and sharing of the road so that all of us can get to where were are going. There's a parallel in this traffic lesson with living in faith, in community, and sharing the journey with others. Reflect for a bit on "yielding" and how you feel about being asked to yield to someone else or someone else being willing or unwilling to yield to you. When did Jesus yield his agenda, his feelings, his will to God or to others? WHY did he yield? That's the crux of the reflection.  Why yield?