I was waiting at a stop sign with my pickup truck and a 20-foot RV trailer in tow, trying to cross two lanes of busy traffic to get to the other side of a four-lane highway.
I finally made it across to the left lane on the other side and headed down the road, waiting for an opening to move into the right lane. But as soon as one opened, the driver of a white pickup behind me sped into the spot, pulled up next to me, rolled down her window, and started yelling profanities at me while flipping me off for having to follow me.
“Wow, this woman is raging mad!” I thought. Her actions were disturbing.
I pulled into the right lane, as she jutted into the left. She remained close by for many miles, for traffic was so thick there was no room to advance.
Distraught by her vicious display of anger, I turned to God in prayer for spiritual insight that would bring me peace of mind.
A voice within said, “You have a choice to make. You can either react with anger and be raging mad too, or you can bless this woman with spiritual truth and keep your thought in a healing place.” I recalled Jesus Christ saying, “Bless those who curse you” (Matthew 5:44, NKJV).
I felt cursed, for sure, but I also knew that there was no imperative for me to return cursing for cursing. Cursing is targeted hatred and malice toward others. I had no malice toward this person. I did not hate her.
In praying for how to respond, I determined to not let her evil become my suffering. I was not going to return hate and fall victim to evil thinking. As Jesus instructed, I could choose to bless her.
As I eyed the white pickup ahead on my left, I prayed to see the driver in a spiritual light. I knew that as a child of God, it was not her native sense to hate others. The road rage she manifested was a worldly add-on that didn’t belong to her. It could be shed. Behind the facade of an angry mortal, was a person with spiritual sense who had the capacity to feel and express love.
The spiritual demand of the moment was not for me to reinforce her anger with more anger, but to send thoughts of love her way designed to defuse anger, restore calm, and encourage forgiveness.
I do not know whether my prayers reached her thought, but they calmed my thought. Her rage did not become my rage. I found peace of mind about the incident and was able to keep traveling with a heart full of goodwill and ready forgiveness.
I gained a spiritual lesson that has stuck with me.
I can’t control what everybody else does on the highway, but I can control what I do. When confronted with road rage, I can bless rather than curse. I can respond with love rather than anger.