The Free Choice Car Alarm

 I timed it over the weekend.

My car beeps loudly for 1min 45seconds

Before it gives up and leaves the driver to her own fate.

While that might not sound like a long time,

It feels like an eternity when you’re waiting for it to go off—

And it’s a whole lot longer than any other car I’ve ever driven.

“How do you know this?” you might ask.

“If you just put on your seatbelt, then the car won’t beep.”

Well, sometimes I don’t put on my seat belt until I make it to the main road,

Or sometimes I take off my seat belt as soon as I turn into the driveway.

In such cases, I hear the beep of protest.

I don’t know why I do those things.

I just do.

Or I used to.

Until I got Ruby Pearl and her alarm forced me into submission—

Into doing what is right.

 

…

 

We have a lot of alarms around us—

A lot of voices warning us of dangers to our physical or mental health—

Friends, family, doctors, advertising campaigns, the church—

All trying to steer us in the right direction—

All making lots of noise—

But all ignorable if we choose to ignore them.

Ignoring them may be a bit painful,

But we can do it.

We can choose our own path.

We live in a country that allows that.

And many of us believe in a God who gives free will.

 

…

 

I went to see The Little Mermaid on Friday night.

Ariel wants to go to the above world.

Everyone tells her no.

In a dramatic scene, her father forbids it.

Ariel, of course, goes anyway.

Disaster strikes.

But, ultimately, she gets what she wants and

Is given legs to walk.

Her father even says,

“You shouldn’t have had to lose your voice for me to hear it.”

 

…

 

A friend recently told me that her seatbelt saved her life.

She didn’t ignore the warning beeps.

 

A friend told me years ago that early detection saved her life.

She didn’t ignore the doctor’s voice.

 

Heidi told me Saturday that taping her work before nailing it wasn’t easy but that it kept her from messing up.

She didn’t ignore our teacher’s voice.

 

Yes, friends, we have free will.

Yes, we can make our own choices.

And sometimes those choices work in our favor.

But sometimes it’s good to listen to the voices around us,

And to let them steer us toward common sense.

Sometimes it’s good to listen to the beep,

Forgo the discomfort,

And do what we know is right.

 

Dear God: Help us to know when to listen to the voices around us and when to follow our own paths and dreams. Sometimes it’s hard to know what’s right. So help us, God, to know—deep in our hearts and guts—with or without the voices and alarms around us—and then to do the next right thing. Amen.