First Baptist Church of Herndon

Hindsight

Linda Soller | Mar 05, 2018

It was a clear, chilly Monday morning. I was driving down the road, admittedly a few miles over the speed limit, about five car lengths behind the cars (note plural) ahead of me.  A white SUV that had turned on to the same road from a side street and was coming up quickly behind me. The driver crossed the solid yellow line into the central “turn only” lane, no signal flashing. Fairly typical for around here.  But instead of turning into a side road he whipped back in front of me, not so typical. We both continued at the same speed I had been driving before, following the same chain of cars. Immediately I began to think, what had I done wrong to cause the driver to act recklessly? It wasn’t like passing me let him drive off into the sunrise. When I didn’t come up with a reason to blame myself, my next thought was, maybe he’s just a jerk. I know that wasn’t very nice, but it was my thought. Next, I got irritated that I was so fast to blame myself for his actions.  I confess I wanted him to give the situation some thought too. So, I took out my cell phone and when we slowed, waiting on a school bus, I held it up in my window as though I might be taking a picture of his license plate. I didn’t take a picture. The phone wasn’t even on.  In hindsight, that was silly, even unwise. I just wanted him to pause and think, why would she take a picture of my car? What did I do? I wanted him to use his hindsight to understand the outcome of his actions. My irritation had come from his recklessness. They say, hindsight is 20/20. Certainly, he would see he had been wrong.

There were times when Jesus must have been frustrated with the disciples who were often confused by His words, actions, and parables. He had such a limited time and so much to share with them. The Bible tells us it was often in hindsight that the disciples finally understood what Jesus meant and what He needed them to do. 

We judge ourselves so harshly. We judge others so quickly. But God is always patient and forgiving. So, in hindsight, maybe I was the one who learned a valuable lesson that Monday morning.

Have a great week!  :o) Linda