Stuck in the wrong gear

[ photo source ]

A few posts ago I talked about my adventures in learning to drive a stick-shift, which you can read about by clicking HERE.  Reflecting upon that adventure brought me to the memory of another learning step in the process which...you guessed it...paints the picture of another analogy to share.  So here it goes....

As my confidence started to evolve in driving my manual-transmissioned vehicle I figured I would have no problem taking a 45 minute, out of town drive to get to where I needed to be. After all, driving was how I was learning the ways of shifting, right?!  

About 15 minutes down the street I found myself at a stop sign stalled-out....not once, not twice, not three times, maybe four, maybe five...who knows....I lost count.  A man from the car behind me got out and walked up to my window and asked "Is everything all right?" I quickly responded saying "I'm just trying to get this whole standard thing down!"  I thanked him and he was on his way back to his car where he sat until I FINALLY drove away from the stop sign....after a few more stalled attempts of course.  

A few minutes down the road I realized what my problem at the stop sign had been.  I kept putting my car into third gear instead of first gear (which you would have thought I would have been smart enough to realize).  First gear is where you start, not third, silly me!

Moral of the story?  

If we're going after the same thing over and over again and keep "stalling" maybe our problem lies in what "gear" in.  Maybe we're in the wrong gear.  Maybe we're in our gear and not the gear God needs us in.  We need to throw our life back into neutral and realign as we shift into the correct gear and give it another shot.  

It's only once we're in the right gear that we are going to be able to succeed at what we're trying to do - just as it is with driving a manual-transmissioned vehicle.  

As I sat at that stop sign trying to drive in what I thought was the right gear I continuously found only failed attempts.  Though I kept telling myself "You can do this, you'll be fine just....go!" the hopes of leaving that stop sign we're very small.  However, once that car was in the right gear I took off with ease and was on my way down the road!  

If we are continuously experiencing failures and continuously stalling it might be time to say "Clearly my way isn't working.  God I want to try your way."  

It's time to get OUT of our own gear and INTO God's gear!