Tip of My Iceberg

I talk to cars.

I’m neither a car whisperer nor a complete fruitcake. But it’s become a habit that can be equally annoying or, in some skewed way, endearing.

When I’m driving, I have conversations out loud with the vehicles that are on the road. I let them know what I think of their driving manners, their unruly tendencies, and the possibilities that they could hit me.

As a disclaimer, I offer this insight to new passengers. Before others understood my issue, I received odd looks and people answering questions that weren’t asked of them.

I’m quite surprised how many others talk to cars as well.

The endearing part is that it saves me from yelling at drivers who can’t hear me anyway. Rather than getting upset with an unknown person behind the wheel, I speak to the car as if it’s an errant toddler who just hasn’t learned manners yet.

I wish I could speak to people who disagree with me with as patient and measured a tone as I speak to inanimate cars.

There’s plenty of room for disagreements in the world. We’re different for a reason; we have different stories, varied tastes, a multitude of perspectives, and the privilege of putting all that together in the decisions we make. Not being, thinking, or acting the same as someone else isn’t bad or wrong–it’s merely different.

Too often I find myself becoming inordinately attached to an opinion. It probably wasn’t my opinion to begin with but something I heard and approved of or read and thought enough about it to agree.

Convictions, on the other hand, are those things of which I’m convinced are true, ideas that I will stand by no matter what anyone else says or is doing. They define who I am and can’t be swayed by popular opinion or likes or tweets on social media.

Convictions operate as moral compasses for our lives. They give us parameters, boundaries, within which we can operate with a clear conscience because we’re being true to who we are. Not trying to impress anyone else.

Alexander Hamilton is often seen as the source of the saying, “Those who stand for nothing fall for anything”, a sad disclaimer to the way many of us operate today. We’re blown by the winds of popular thought and whatever we read on social media rather than exploring truth for ourselves.

Jesus made powerful claims of what truth is.

“And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.” John 8:32

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

Truth is neither malleable nor mutable. It is constant and unchanging. It is who God is.

For me to talk to cars doesn’t affect any driver. It’s a practiced release of frustration with those on the road.

My attitude towards people as a whole needs to be more of a conviction–people are worth time and effort. Finding out the truth of who others are, listening to their stories, valuing their experiences, offers the chance for honest interactions. I have the courage to do so in Jesus.

A lot more positive than talking to inanimate things.