Going Far? Let’s Go Together
Theme / Personal Reflection
Read Time / 2 Minutes
“Why don’t more people drive like me?” It’s a question which regularly enters my mind out of frustration when I drive the streets and highways of my home city.
Maybe, you’ve experienced driving in the San Francisco Bay Area and can relate. Cars weaving in and out of traffic like a marriage between Tetris and Frogger.
It’s easy to get caught up in the anxiety induced driving style granted to anyone who dares to get behind the wheel and enter Silicon Valley’s streets. Regardless of my attempts to prepare myself, eventually I break, and my driving style resolves to the law of the jungle and the fight for myself resumes.
I don’t like the driver I become in California. Because of this, I’m forced to reflect on the fears experienced in the driver’s seat — the fear I’m alone, an afterthought; if I want anything out of life, it must be grabbed; if I don’t stand up for myself, I’ll be walked over and used. These fears (dramatic as they sound) might peak it’s head out while driving, but the reality is, if it’s showing itself on the streets, it’s lurking in other areas of my life.
It’s a vulnerable thing to admit, but I’m often fighting for the position of author, director, and actor of my story.
Scripture constantly reveals to us in order to embrace the peace of God we must release control. Proverbs 3:5-6 puts it, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Resetting my attention from the things of Ryan toward the things of God, clears the fog of frustration and straightens my path. The slightest gesture of kindness from God (often revealed through others) leads me to repentance. Suddenly, it’s not about going fast and getting what I want, it’s about going together and seeing how I can contribute.
Burkina Faso said it well “Alone youth run fast, with an elder slow, but together they go far.” Many leaders have revamped this by saying, “if you want to go fast, go alone. if you want to go far, go with others.”
An act of kindness I’ve begun to admire is when another driver simply lets me in front of them. It’s a reminder we are all in this together.
Ryan De Amicis
Wealth Advisor
408.758.6413
ryan@christianwm.com
