My plan was simple, and I thought it would be effective, however there was one small bit of information I was missing. What was I to do once I discovered that the drive way only offered one real choice? Simple, I saw what I wanted to see instead of what was really there.
I think I’ve told you before that I didn’t do much dating in high school. Part of the reason was my fear of rejection, and part of the reason is my blindness to the possibilities. I was a mix of cute, confidence, success, and doubt, pessimism, and fear, does that make any kind of since to you? Rejection was then and still is my greatest fear. I equate being rejected as failure, and the best defense against rejection is to never offer myself.
Anyway, just a few weeks before I put my plan into motion I was presented with the reason I needed the plan in the first place. I had worked up the courage to ask a girl from Seagraves out, and she had accepted. Things were going my way, and I was excited as I headed out for the nine mile drive to her house. I made the block so that I would be approaching her house in the proper parking direction which put the passenger side of the car closest to the front door of her house. Now, most of the cars in the dark ages had a bench seat in the front not he bucket seats that most cars have today. This was a very nice arrangement because it meant that the girl would sit next to the guy without the obstacle of the console in between. I had known this girl and her family for many years so I went into her house and visited with her folks for a few minutes before we left. When we did finally leave she went to the passenger side of the car. WAIT! That’s not the way this was supposed to happen. She was supposed to come around to the driver’s side of the car slide under the steering wheel and stop in the middle so she could sit right next to me. Ok, I thought after I had opened the passenger side door for her, after she gets in she will slide across to the middle and sit next to me. NOT!!!
Now you are up to speed, and can easily see why I had developed my current plan. I had determined to always park so that the driver’s side of the car was closest to the door of the girls house. Huh, huh, are you with me here? Am I a genius or what? She would almost have to get in on my side of the car. So here I was about to pull into the country drive of a girl I had watched from afar for over a year. She was the prettiest girl our rival school had to offer. She was a cheerleader, one of their best athletes, and she appeared to carry herself with grace and confidence. I have no idea how I ever worked up the nerve to ask her out in the first place, she was soooo out of my league.
I suffered through the whole parent’s introduction thing, and we were on our way to the car. Yes! My plan worked to perfection, she walked straight to my side of the car and gracefully slid under the steering wheel stopping in the middle so she could sit next to me. I be knowing at this point that things were going to go much better with this girl than they had been with the last one. Yup, I thought I’d done died and gone to heaven until she ask, “Why did you park in the yard instead of in the driveway?”
So there you have it friends, I was so set on my plan, so committed to its success that I had envisioned a driveway that wasn’t even there. I remember as I turned off of the black top, and headed to the house that the drive clearly went to the left, but I was sure that I also saw I light set of tracks that veered to the right. I saw what I wanted to see instead of what was really there. I saw what would serve my purpose instead of what was clearly the best choice, the right choice. This all serves as a reminder for me today in my study of God’s word. I continually ask myself if what I am seeing is really God’s will, or a mirage that suits my carefully designed plan.
Till next time,
Grump