Brenda’s Blog – July 22, 2014
“Automobile Assist: Driver Drowsiness Has Been Detected.” My friend’s car actually tattles on her. If she moves too quickly into an occupied lane, red lights flash, and buzzers beep; if she moves upon the car ahead, the brakes activate; and if she appears to lose full attention, a cute coffee cup icon pops onto the screen.
The amenity package in this luxury car amazes me. But the amenity package of a premium friendship is just as stunning.
Have you ever found yourself dozing off in life and weaving from lane to lane? Have you ever closed in on an object in your career path threatening a crash? What about people who travel in your blind spots? Don’t you wish you had driver assists?
Too often we see friends who are “cruising for a bruising,” yet we avert our eyes and hearts because we don’t want to be intrusive. Actually, I think we fail to flash warning signals because the messiness of involvement is distasteful.
Don’t trusted colleagues make observations about career limiting moves? Don’t dear friends take the risk to share firsthand experiences of seeing spouses or children driving in the wrong lanes? Don’t ministry partners mention dozing off in the work of the Master?
When we bravely and appropriately issue our alerts, we do it with wisdom and gentleness. If my friend’s cars were to scream at her, she would undoubtedly overreact, overcorrect, and overdo. The helpfulness of warning would turn into dire destruction. The engineers designed a system for optimum effectiveness.
Conversely, if the car’s program merely sent happy talk messages, the beeps, buzzes, and flashes would go unheeded and ignored in times of trouble. It is tempting to pour out nonstop “attagirls/attaboys,” ignoring red flags in the lives of others.
Proverbs 26:7 puts it this way: “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are excessive.”
Good friends understand how, when, and most importantly why to share these warnings. Good leaders exercise discernment and strengthen their organizations with appropriate Will Robinson management.