Billy Coffey
Billy Coffey

Life’s potholes

July 30, 2010  

image courtesy of metro.uk.co

image courtesy of metro.uk.co

I’m at the local mechanic’s shop getting my dizzy truck nursed back to health. Dizzy because it won’t drive straight. You can tell when you get out on a flat and straight road and it drifts to the right. The alignment’s messed up. Not a big deal.

They do a lot of alignments here, which is understandable. One of the many perks about living in the country is the abundance of dirt roads one can travel upon. One of the few drawbacks are the potholes that litter those roads. And since the recession has drained the Department of Transportation of funds, there are now plenty of potholes on the main roads, too. Big, angry ones that are hungry for unsuspecting tires.

The folks here at the shop aren’t the only ones who deal with the aftereffects of potholes. There’s a local preacher sitting here beside me. He deals with potholes too, though in a more spiritual sense. And his wife, who just got up to fetch a cup of coffee, is a practicing psychologist. A fixer of mental potholes.

Given the choice, I’d much rather hit a rut in my truck than in my life. Both hurt, of course. Both are ugly, too. And both will cost you. You just pay in different ways.

Hit a pothole in your truck, and all you have to do is come down to the shop here and have it fixed. While you wait, you can chat with some locals about the weather and the crops and fill yourself with free coffee. Most, you’ll find, have hit the very same pothole you have. There are worse ways to spend your afternoon.

Hit one in your life, though, and getting repairs can take a lot longer. Because it isn’t a simple process of getting a hunk of metal fixed, it’s a complicated process of getting yourself fixed. Your heart, your head, your soul. Because it’s easy to be full of happiness and peace and faith while the road is flat and straight, but when you hit a bump, when everything goes from good to downright awful, everything changes. Happiness becomes depression, peace becomes anger, and you not only wonder if you’ll find faith again, you wonder if you ever really had it in the first place.

There’s often no one you feel you can chat with when your life hits a pothole. There’s another difference. Some may see you dizzy and drifting and offer. They’ll say that the pothole you just hit is the very same they hit once upon a time. But you won’t believe them. You’ll think they’re wrong, that yours was bigger and deeper and they wouldn’t understand. I know this is true. I’ve said it myself to those who have tried to help me. Many times.

But you learn. You grow. It never gets easier to align yourself after the bumps in life, but you at least come to understand they’ll always be there. It doesn’t matter how carefully you go or how much you pay attention. Doesn’t matter how good you are. Sooner or later one of them will jump out and eat you and leave you dizzy and drifting again.

I think that’s one of the reasons why Christianity is so appealing. It doesn’t gloss over the potholes. It doesn’t tell you that with enough hard work and right living, the bumps will go away. “In this world you will have trouble,” Jesus said. The other part of that verse has Jesus saying to take heart, He has overcame the world.

Not the potholes, though.

Which I guess means that even though hitting them hurts, hitting them can also be necessary at times. That sometimes bad can turn out to be good.

I doubted that until I read about Steve Wheen, a cyclist who lives in London. Evidently the roads there are just as bad as they are here, and Steve was sick and tired of not only seeing them, but also riding over them.

So he started doing something about it. He started planting flowers in them. He ‘s turning ugly into pretty. Making something useless useful.

I wonder if we could do the same about the potholes in life.

I’m thinking Jesus would say yes.

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Comments

  • http://thinkingtoodeeply.blogspot.com Karin

    “Happiness becomes depression, peace becomes anger, and you not only wonder if you’ll find faith again, you wonder if you ever really had it in the first place.” You understand. Thanks for the encouragement!

  • http://topsy.com/www.billycoffey.com/2010/07/lifes-potholes/?utm_source=pingback&utm_campaign=L2 Tweets that mention Life’s potholes : Billy Coffey — Topsy.com

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Glynn Young and Bridget Chumbley, Wendy G. Wendy G said: RT @katdish RT @billycoffey Life’s potholes : Billy Coffey http://bit.ly/cpJkxO [...]

  • http://www.cdposey.com Posey

    It amazes me that you can write about potholes and always bring it home.

  • http://thewritepursuit.blogspot.com/ Sandra Heska King

    I’m thinking He would, too.

  • http://www.joannesher.com Joanne Sher

    “They’ll say that the pothole you just hit is the very same they hit once upon a time. But you won’t believe them. You’ll think they’re wrong, that yours was bigger and deeper and they wouldn’t understand.”

    Oh yeah. And I’m SO with you on the pothole flowers. May have to use that thought – kinda goes with my book :)

    SUPER as always.

  • http://aspiretoleadaquietlife.blogspot.com A Simple Country Girl

    Boy oh boy, I would be a walking flower garden if posies were planted in all of my potholes. Love the image you posted with the story. And in case the pothole-flower-planter-person is reading this, I prefer wild flowers.

    Blessings.

  • http://hisfirefly.blogspot.com HisFireFly

    As always.. you’ve hit the nail squarely on the head!

  • http://www.lynnrush.com Lynn Rush

    Fantastic. Love this!

  • http://heathersunseri.blogspot.com Heather Sunseri

    I love this! I think Jesus would definitely agree! Your words and that picture above made me smile today!

  • http://whiteplatonicdreams.blogspot.com/ T. Anne

    Beautiful. Jesus fills my potholes with flowers every time.

  • http://www.christianmamasguide.com Erin

    Hi Billy!! This is fabulous… and you’re right about the potholes! I have it on my to-do list to pick up your book because I’d love to read it! Congrats!

  • http://www.endlessimpact.com jasonS

    Very nice solution to an ugly problem. We can definitely hit the same potholes more than once. I guess the real question is whether they’re “our” potholes we keep hitting or if we are going to help someone else. I don’t want to be so stubborn that I’m always hitting the same ones!

    Thanks Billy.

  • http://angiemizzell.com Angie Mizzell

    My life is relatively flat and well-paved right now… there are challenges, but in general I’m happy and at peace. It hasn’t always been this way, so I understand how it feels to try to “reset” after hitting a pothole. I think because I’ve been down that bumpy road… I get scared sometimes. I catch myself not trusting the happiness I feel… waiting for the other shoe to drop. This post is so inspiring, it’s a reminder that potholes are part of the deal. It’s also a reminder to continue to plant flowers and stay on the path I believe I’ve been called to travel. So thank you for this insight today.

  • http://writingwithoutpaper.blogspot.com Maureen

    Great idea. Planting flowers in the potholes on Rt. 66 and the Beltway might be one way to get everyone to just slow down here.

  • http://www.teawithtiffany.com Tiffany Stuart

    I don’t know how a flower would ever bloom in a pothole considering the drivers that pass over it. Maybe if we saw it was a flower, instead of a pothole, we would swerve instead. I’m not sure that’s safe. We may end up in an accident. Which leads to a different kind of mess. Anyway, I could ramble but I won’t.

    Billy, I never get tired of your stories. Keep ‘em coming. And when’s the book out?

    :)
    I believe in you and your words. God does too!

    tiffany

  • http://travelinglightghiglia5.blogspot.com/ Laurel Ghiglia

    Hope your truck is back out there in no time. Great reminder by the way – sometimes we just need to be the ones to take the initiative – but those potholes have purpose too, no matter how inconvenient. Thanks for the post! Gotta go do some planting!

  • http://hikingtowardhome.blogspot.com Sharon

    “Happiness becomes depression, peace becomes anger, and you not only wonder if you’ll find faith again, you wonder if you ever really had it in the first place.”

    I hit several successive large potholes and the repair is taking a long time. I think in someways the job won’t be done until I step into heaven. But the upside of it all is, as time passes, through the process of repairing, there comes deeper understanding. I believe God has reasons for the potholes in our lives, and it is often to help someone else’s repair job after they hit similar pot holes, to be able to minister to others and pass the understanding and wisdom on that God gives you through it.

    You are a great preacher. You always deliver deep truth in such creative ways. Keep preaching Billy!

  • http://www.fordsbigbluehouse.blogspot.com Melissa from the Blue House

    This is why I love your blog. You always speak to me exactly where I am…

  • http://www.jumpingtandem.com deidra

    And sometimes we just refuse to admit we’ve hit a pothole as we swagger down the road with one headlight busted…

    Great words, as always.

  • http://www.gettingdownwithjesus.blogspot.com Jennifer@GDWJ

    A pothole can rattle faith, that’s for sure. This struck me: “You not only wonder if you’ll find faith again, you wonder if you ever really had it in the first place.”

    Billy, you always manage to give voice to the things I’ve felt in the deepest places.

    You’re a planter — putting words that bloom in potholes out on the Information Superhighway. It’s a joy traveling with you on these roads.

  • http://newdaynewlesson.com Susie

    I am so glad you came to the conclusion that I try to live.

    Sometimes potholes sideline you to open up your options for even better things in life.

  • http://firmlyrootedministries.org Kenny

    Unfortunately when you are a leader those following you will often hit those same potholes. I experienced this with my son. Extremely painful.

  • http://www.justsaytheword.wordpress.com nAncY

    enjoyed the post
    as well as going to look at the pothole plantings

  • http://www.randommusings-helen.blogspot.com Helen

    Planting flowers in the potholes: I like that.

  • http://verymuchlater.com jake

    Genius. Such a simple and still profound solution to an annoying problem. Great comparison!!