Can you get out of the rut?

Earlier this year we had a decent amount of snow for our small part of North Carolina. Whereas snow like that in other parts of the world would not impact anything, for us in the Iredell County region, it pretty much shut everything down for a few days.

We aren’t equipped with salt trucks, snow plows, etc. so all the roads can be cleared quickly. Thus, it takes a few days for roads to clear.

There was a spot on State Farm Road, near where I live, that apparently is never subjected to sunlight. Therefore, even four days post snowstorm, when all the other roads were clear, this spot was still covered.

The first time I encountered said spot my car slid sideways. Luckily I was able to stay on the road but it did unnerve me a bit.

The next day, driving to the office, I noticed that I must not be the only one facing that issue of sliding. As I approached the spot I noticed a big truck going back and forth over the patch of snow, each time driving in a different space to break up the icy patch. He was driving out of the original 2 ruts that were still icy and making lots of new pathways for the cars.

Unlike my little Mustang, he had the right type of car to be able to do that.

Ruts are a “groove” that a wheel fits in. They also are “places we get to in our lives that are difficult to get out from because they are habits, etc. and we get stuck.”

That’s also how our minds work! They find a “groove” to fit in, and once there . . . it is really hard to get out of that groove.

Because of the way our minds are wired, our groove consists of our negative thoughts. Switching our thoughts from negative to positive requires effort and intentionality, just like driving outside of a rut/groove.

What if, the next time we start thinking negatively about ourselves, something we failed at, some situation we think we should have handled differently, we offer ourselves some grace. We talk about offering one another grace a lot – – – but rarely do we talk about extending it to ourselves.

Try this affirmation . . . .

“I am a work in progress and I am getting better every day!”

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;

    you formed me in my mother’s womb.

I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!

    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

Psalm 139