During this election cycle we’ve heard and we will hear a lot about freedom. It’s part of the American dream: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Ideas differ on what it means and what it will take for our country to be free. A more personal aspect of freedom is maturing to the point of independent adulthood. The “Coming of Age” genre is the vehicle for telling a person’s journey from childlike thinking and behavior to a more adult lifestyle. A significant part of my journey began with a CRUNCH.
Crunch… The sound of smashing car metal made a sickening sound as it filled the car I was driving alone.
It was the summer between my junior and senior years in high school. Mom and Dad had taken my brother on a vacation to Canada. I stayed home alone to work on my job as a secretary for our high school math department.
I felt like I was becoming so mature. My parents trusted me on my own. They even left me with the use of a car while they were gone. It was pretty heady stuff, but I was soon to find the reality of all that independence carried with it a heavy dose of responsibility--the hated “r” word.
Dad’s birthday was coming up soon after the vacation. Since he was out of town, it would be the perfect time for me to go across town to a sporting goods store to buy the gift I had in mind for him.
As I turned left off a busy street to the side road that led to the store, I had my accident. The car in front of me had the nerve to stop for a pedestrian jay-walking in front of him! I may have been following too closely, or couldn’t see because of the left turn, but I hit him.
Fortunately, no one was hurt and the other car was only dinged. I looked at the front of my folk’s blue sedan. It was badly smashed in. I shook all over from the awful sound of crunching metal reverberating in my head.
How was I ever going to tell my folks what I had done? How would they react? It was in the days before instant communication, so I wasn’t even sure I could get ahold of them. It was one of those moments that you never think to prepare for beforehand, you don’t have any experience to draw on and you just have to figure it out as you go. Kind of like what do you do first when a loved one dies? You’ve never had this experience before. Your emotions are in turmoil. There’s not a long time to learn something new, but it has to be dealt with.
When they got back from vacation, they made sure I was alright. Then they helped me deal with the insurance claims and having the car fixed. They had given me freedom in leaving me home alone with the car. Now I had the responsibility of dealing with the consequences of my accident. They continued to love me and even allowed me to continue to drive while helping me walk through the various steps.
I learned a valuable lesson about the realities of living independently. The freedom is great, but the responsibility is not always so fun. I also learned to be much more careful while making left turns.
I think God teaches us spiritual lessons the same way. He wants us to be strong and decisive while serving Him. Just like a child, we don’t start out very well equipped on our own. God allows us to make mistakes, even have what we might consider failures, so we can learn and grow. He’s there loving and guiding us, yet He doesn’t shield us from consequences that will help us grow to more spiritual maturity.
I like how The Message paraphrases James 1:2-4. “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”
Pressure from all sides can be a gift. Just like my coming of age started with a “crunch,” my spiritual coming of age may be helped along with an unexpected challenge as well. If I let the pressure change me to be more like Christ, it’s a gift. If I let it paralyze me and withdraw from what the Lord is teaching me, the pressure is a burden.
Freedom and maturity go hand in hand. As mature adults or mature Christians we are never free to do whatever we want. We’re free to do what’s right. The crunches and pressures along the way teach us to rise to the challenge. God loves us too much to let us stay in our self-centered infancy. He wants us to grow to maturity and not be deficient in any way. Then we can enjoy personal freedom with a Loving Father who walks us through all our challenges and has great plans for us as we partner with Him in the life He has for us.
