The Elephant on the Highway

How do you eat an elephant? Yeah…I know… the first time I heard this semi-rhetorical question I was confused. I was like, “what? … wait, does it taste like chicken?” I’m a little slow…so it took me a while to get it. And that’s how I am with everything. It takes me a while to get most lessons, especially those divine lessons God so diligently tries to teach me.

I have been so very overwhelmed by life lately, that I have not been able to write much at all this month. I don’t like it when I allow time to slip by without setting aside some to let the Holy Spirit cover me with His meditations as I type. This is my time with the Lord. The very sound the keys make when I press them down on the keyboard soothe me and center me. It’s no wonder I’ve been so out of whack, anxiously tripping by the days as if sleep-walking. I need to get back on track. I need to exchange the craziness of the last few months for moments of peace and freshness.

This past weekend was not one of those moments.

Let me tell you. I despise driving. My limit of driving without stopping is one hour… and a half if I really push myself. Well, last Thursday I had to drive 5 hours by myself one way…in the rain…part of it at night. It was probably the worse driving conditions, second only to a blizzard…btw, I have driven in a blizzard…

At any rate, I was not happy. When I got to my destination, if it hadn’t been because I know how dirty hotel carpets (all carpets for that matter) are, I would have kissed the floor. I did kneel down and praised God for keeping me safe and putting that awful drive in the past, though. Then, I realized I had to do it again in two days…sigh…

When the day to come back home arrived, I woke up as early as possible and as soon as there was light, I got on the highway. The day was bright and sunny and I was driving west, which helped. The trees looked beautiful and the music on the radio was fun! But the road looked as if it would swallow me up, still. My uneasiness with the highway was all the same as it had been two days before. There might not have been any rain or confusing, flashing lights passing me by, but the miles still extended the same distance. Then, I remembered the elephant.

Sigh…

So, I decided to eat the following 223 miles or so, one bite at a time.

I took advantage of interchanges and rest-stops to the fullest. And I broke up the trip in chunks… doable chunks… so when I got home I was not shaking uncontrollably nor feeling like I needed to plant my face on the ground and sob. I was refreshed, and able to enjoy the beauty of the day I still had left!

Then, I thought…this elephant menu makes a lot of sense to me now. I think there might be something there for every time I feel overwhelmed. My Father in Heaven does not want me to try to swallow up all the concerns of life in one bite. He’d never ask me to do that, because He knows I’d never learn what I need to learn that way. I’d be too consumed by the heartburn of my gluttony. He wants me to, first, give my elephant to Him… then, allow Him to cut it up into bite-sizes, to finally start eating it one piece at a time…why don’t I remember that, next time?