Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Work (07/27/06)
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TITLE: Breathing Room | Previous Challenge Entry
By Erin Rodgers
08/03/06 -
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Sitting in the throng of people impatient to get home after a long day of work, I realized that I had officially become one of the competitive little rats in this race from nine-to-five. Sure enough, I did my balancing act every morning at 8:30 (give or take a few) juggling my bag, my coffee, my keys and my barely-thought-of-lunch out to the car. From there I merged into the sea of commuters and started my day. Office bound. Heading home was much the same…equally as frenzied, but the shimmering mirage in the distance my couch instead of my desk.
On this particularly stifling afternoon my air conditioner struggled to keep the car cool as I crawled ahead, brake lights before me flashing a hypnotic rhythm of off-on, off-on. I cracked a window in hopes of letting some of the accumulated hot air out but scowled only to breathe in a heavy whiff of exhaust and hot asphalt. Ah, the soothing aromatherapy of the highway. I could feel the bone-shattering bass of a kid next to me—all of his windows were down. (I decided that had to be for style because there was no way he was comfortable). In my rearview a man in a tie gestured wildly like a bee had flown in his sunroof. A very heated cell phone call had most of his attention.
I had to stop and wonder at what point my life had finally given itself over to the near-complete consumption of the everyday grind. If I wasn’t at work, I was thinking about it or trying not to look at the folders and notes I’d brought home to review. If I was at work, I was counting the minutes to my great escape yet dreading the bumper-to-bumper dance that lay ahead. But then what? The whirlwind of getting home usually ended in a big sigh and the feeling of a tension headache creeping up my neck. So I’m home…destination achieved. Time to collapse until it starts all over again.
The clog finally disintegrated around a stalled car in the middle lane. Thankfully the cars ahead of me began to move forward as their impatient drivers hit the gas. I felt a rush of relief as I whizzed around onto an open stretch of highway – breathing room! I cracked my window again for a breeze Instead of the heavy scent of hot air and a world in motion I noticed something new—something entirely refreshing and so beautiful. Unbelievably I could smell lilacs. Breathing deeply I felt the peace of God in my spirit. Somehow, in the midst of rush hour traffic, I could smell the woods along the side of the road. Not only the dense trees, but such a fragile scent, something I could have easily missed if God hadn’t made it known to me.
It was if God Himself was telling me to put aside the obvious, that which commanded my attention day in and day out. It reminded me to look toward the eternal, to a God who makes all things new and revives the weary. To think a humming highway could be a place of divine inspiration makes me thankful to know a God who meets me where I am.
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Good job!