Give Way

Life in Bermuda is different than here in the states. For one thing--they drive on the opposite side of the street ("Right is wrong!" is how I heard the scooter rental guy caution novice riders). For another, their streets are curvy and narrow and filled with--how shall I put it? Exuberant drivers. They make Boston drivers look like little old ladies! Horns beeping (they have such cute little "beeps"), the cars and buses and trucks and scooters all careen through the streets, brushing back the thick vegetation and chance pedestrian on the road's edge!

In some ways the Bermudians are more genteel than us Americans, however. One notable difference in signage was that there were no YIELD signs. In Bermuda, it is a more compromising GIVE WAY. Yield has unmistakable connotations of complete and unconditional surrender of rights, privileges and roadways. "Give way" sounds to me more like sharing.


Quite often we're told that we must YIELD to God--surrender totally. And I can understand that logically. We should trust and fear God so that God may take our lives and transform them into lives for Christ. We can't do that on our own--not by what we either do or say.

But I'd like to think that God can work that transformation in us without totally wiping away our self. I'd like to say we "give way" to God (with the help of the Spirit--of course, for we can't do this on our own). We make room in our hearts for God and God fills them with forgiveness and love for each other (so that we might give way to one another as well). You are still you once you give way--you've simply stopped leading and now instead, follow.

Think today about where God might lead you, were you to give way. What journey? What mission? What ministry? What change in your life? Think about it. And then "GIVE WAY."