love in traffic

St Ambrose talks to us today in A Year with the Church Fathers. He says that we should work very hard not to insult people who insult us. And this takes real humility, as you know. It's hard to just take it when someone says rude things to your face.

It's also hard when people are rude to you in traffic. When they cut you off, refuse to let you merge, or lay on their horn for nothing... you want to at least gesture "what the heck??" to them. If not respond in a more vehement fashion. But God calls us to love in every area of our lives, and it may be something that you have to work on.

For me, I remind myself "What does love demand in this situation?" That helps me remember not to return insult for insult. When I'm at a stop light, and the split second that it turns green the person behind me lays on their horn, I WANT to drive really, really slowly and "reward" their impatience by making them wait longer for me to go. But that's not love. That's vindictive. So even though it still bothers me when they honk like that, I still go ahead and go like normal.

God has given us so many blessings... let's show our gratefulness by being patient and loving with other people.

God, thank You for teaching us how to love, rather than trading insult for insult.