How Not to Wreck Your Car…or Your Life.

I was rear-ended last week, just a few hours before I hopped on a plane for the Proverbs 31 She Speaks speaker’s and writer’s conference in North Carolina.  The teenager who hit me was the third teenage girl to rear-end me in the last two years (and I know what you’re thinking—maybe all these accidents could be my fault).  No. I promise.  No.

It’s just that these girls all did the same thing.  They looked away for a moment, and when they finally looked up, it was too late.

They didn’t pay attention.  They lost their focus.  They got distracted, never thinking the result would be a wreck.

I’ve done it, too.  So have you, I’ll bet—not only in our driving—but in our lives as well. Distractions wreck our relationships, our goals, and our lives.

No one wants to wreck their car, much less their life, their marriage, or their relationship with their kids, but all it takes is a little lack of focus, a season where we fail to pay attention, a distraction or two…or three…and we look up, only to realize it’s too late to stop the wreck we’ve made. So today, I’m sharing three steps to avoid wrecking our lives.

1. Wherever you are, be all there. 

This means if you’re at dinner with your family or your friends, you’re at dinner with the family/friends.  Not on your cell phone, watching TV or any number of things we do to take our focus off those we love. If you’re working, work, rather than checking Facebook or playing computer games.  If you’re resting, rest. Discipline yourself not to check emails, texts or your laptop. If you’re praying, pray—the “to do” list in your mind can wait.

Be where you are, not where you’re not.

2. Prioritize your priorities.

Sounds obvious enough, doesn’t it?  BUT, how many of us say our marriage is a priority but fail to prioritize time with our spouse?  How many of us say reaching a certain goal is a priority but find ourselves repeating “I’ll get around to it next week”? How many of us want to be loving parents but brush our child’s requests aside with “in a minute”?

Right now, jot down your top two priorities.  Now, how can you make those two things a priority this week?

3. Give yourself and others a little extra space.

Space to go at our own pace.  Space to create.  Space to think.  Space to pray.  Space to talk.  Space to read. Space to question.  Space to laugh.  Space to be.

Life cannot and should not be lived at break-neck speed.  Nor should it be lived with endless hours of nothing (unless you’re on vacation!).  Live at the pace that gives you and your family a sense of purpose and of peace.

When the sweet 17 year old who hit me last week got out of her car, panic stricken tears filled her eyes.  I know how she felt.  I’ve been in her shoes. Sometimes the little wrecks in our lives are meant shake us up just enough to help us avoid the bigger wrecks. And most wrecks—the car kind and the life kind—can be avoided if we do one simple thing.

Pay attention.