By the time you read this article, my newly turned 16 year old son should have obtained his driver’s license. For the last year, he has been practicing his three point turn, merging, turn signals, and speed control. He’s been a good driver and I have been enjoyed watching him learn the rules of the road. Only one source of constant frustration for him has been yellow lights. There’s such decisiveness required with them that he stresses badly over each one. Reds are fine. Green are better. Yellow’s freak him out.
Yellow lights are different from the other two colors. They don’t tell you what to do; they demand that you make a decision.
Green lights say “It’s ok. Keep going as planned.” They tell you that you have the right of way and that you are fine to proceed. They seem affirming as if they were cheering the drivers on with “well done good and faithful driver.” They are positive and make you feel good about your travel time. When you hit a string a green lights, you get the impression that you are lucky and maybe it’s time to buy a lottery ticket. You are confident about your punctuality and your worries disappear, when you get green lights.
Red lights are just as imperative. They too, give drivers a clear and concise order: stop. Redlights are the traffic equivalent of “No.” They tell you to quit what you are doing. You must cease and desist. You can not keep going. They might make drivers frustrated, but they are clear and no nonsense. They don’t care if you are late or miss your meeting. Red lights are too busy keeping things orderly and running smoothly to be nice. They are the referees of the intersection and make sure that every lane gets its turn. Too many red lights in a row and you begin to wonder if you are finally being punished for being mean to your sister back in the 3rd grade (or is that just me?).
Yellow lights are different. They provide options. There’s nothing clear about them. They are wishy washy compared to their red and green siblings. If you keep going, you might make it; you might not. If you speed up you should be ok, but that car in front would need to do the same thing. You could slam on the brakes and throw all your stuff toward the front of the car, and you might even get hit by the car behind you. To stop or go...that is the question! Yellow lights raise our anxiety. They force us into making decisions even when we don’t want to do so.
While life has plenty of proverbial red and green lights, it is more often full of yellows. They last longer and pop up more often in real life decisions. Life’s yellow lights say “You might want to rethink this one.” “You may want to reconsider your current situation.” “You probably need to slow down in this relationship.” They give you pause to evaluate the speed of your life’s journey. “You might want to speed up if you don’t want to miss this opportunity” they say. They remind us of free choice and free will. Yellow lights are the constant reminders that we have to make decisions on our own. Mommy and Daddy won’t always be there to tell us “no” or “go.” We have to decide if we are going to give our endeavors gas or the brakes. It’s all up to us. Yellow lights remind us that we have to do something different.
This week I invite you to embrace your life’s yellow lights. Make some stops along the way. Stop before that bad habit gives you a red light. Stop playing the “what if” game about your painful situation. Stop the excess. Likewise, you might need to make some decisions to keep going. Keep improving yourself even if no one is noticing. Keep trying. Keep working on yourself and the world. Life is giving you lots of choices and you need to make some decisions. Proverbs 14:15 says, “The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps.” Give some thought to your yellow lights and you just might make yourself and the world a better place.
Love one. Love another.
Jack