Life is a Highway...

So this week i was sitting in traffic on the highway, just waiting for the cars to move. You know how when you are stuck in traffic it always seems as if the lane next to you is moving faster..and as soon as you manage to get into the faster lane its moving like molasses while the lane you were in originally is now speeding along.
all that is besides the point..

I was sitting in the lane furthest to the right waiting to get out..and I did not know exactly how much longer I had till my exit. I wasn't exactly sure which exit it was, I mean I know what it looks like but that is about it. so I was stuck in the super slow lane waiting, on the look out for my exit...and I almost missed it too! the people who knew where they were going and knew that they had a while were in the left lane breezing along whilst the rest of us who had to get off soon were slogging along.

It occurred to me that if I knew where I needed to get off exactly and knew the way precisely then I could have stayed in the left lane for longer thus arriving at my destination sooner. and I was sitting there in traffic late for my appointment I quickly took the note down on my trusty Pod.

Life is full of traffic jams. Things that keep us busy. Traditional four year college allows the first two years to help a person find herself So she has to take all sorts of subjects keeping herself busy till she knows exactly what she wants. As well as with spiritual growth. Since most people at a younger age at least anyway have no idea what it is that they want to work on and exactly who they want to become..they stay in the congested..slow..safe..right lane.

It is safe, you are surrounded by people..you are not alone. You are creeping along looking for the exit that looks right..But imagine if we knew exactly who it was that we wanted to be. Imagine that we had mapped out exactly how to become that person. We have memorized our life mantra. It is as familiar to us as the face in the mirror. So then we have no need to be stuck in the same line as everyone else.

In the Yam Suf, each shevet had his own lane, signifying the unique characteristics of each son. We each have our own unique tafkid, nisyonot, strengths and weaknesses. We do not all need to get off at the same place. But if we never take the time to look inside and ahead..then we will forever be stuck crawling at a snails pace to some unknown destination.

There are a lot of things that we do just because its the "frum" thing to do. And it may be that for some people that is the right path to take. But we have to take a deep look inside and analyze and evaluate. Is this what He wants from me? Is this path going to take me to to MY exit? or am I crawling along sluggishly when I can be zooming by in a few lanes over, doing what I need to do for my life line?

Life is a highway, I wanna ride it
All night long
If you're going my way, I wanna drive it
All night long

So take a minute, well it may take more than a minute or two..and look inside and map out your life. Obviously there are sometimes roadblocks and sometimes there needs to be detours and that is what makes life (and road trips for that matter) interesting. But at least when we have an idea of where we need to go, we don't get stuck in the clutter that will only slow you down in fulfilling your potential.

So make a map, learn it and follow it..and hopefully you wont get stuck in too much traffic.