Red Lights and Rebellion

Don’t you just hate red lights? I do. They slow me down. I think I’ve felt this way since I was little. My mom tells me that when I was a toddler, I would stand on the seat beside her (since there were no car seats or seat belt laws back then), and when the light would turn green, I would say “Green! Green! Go cat, go!” I realized recently that there’s a lesson to be learned here.

I have a daughter who just turned 10. She is very proud of her double-digit age and reminds me regularly that she is a pre-teen. Nobody warns you when you’re holding your sweet baby daughter in your arms that aliens will come on the night on her 10th birthday and replace that precious bundle of joy with a completely unpredictable young lady.

She has always been a child who, in her enthusiasm for life, is quick to act and slow to think about the consequences. She so wants to be independent and grown up. But, recently, her quest for independence has started to look suspiciously like rebellion. She told me that rebellious people are independent, but I countered with the fact that independent people don’t have to be rebellious. In my mind: Independence = Good. Rebellion = Bad.

So what does all of this have to do with stoplights?

Stoplights were put there for a reason. They were not put there to spoil all of our fun while we’re out on the roads. They were put there to protect us and to provide order. Without stoplights, there would be chaos on the roads. If you’ve ever driven in a third world country with no traffic laws, you know what I mean! And, every time you encounter a stoplight, you have a choice. You can obey its authority, or you can rebel against its authority. And, if you choose to rebel against its authority, there are consequences. And, those consequences can be very bad. I think that we’ve all seen pictures of accidents that were caused by someone running a red light, and it’s not pretty.

I took some time to explain to this to my daughter a couple of weeks ago. We talked about independence and rebellion. We talked about what the Bible has to say about rebellion (1 Samuel 15:23). And, we talked about the fact that parental authority is not there to spoil her fun. It’s there to protect her. It’s a covering for her. In fact, only by living under that authority will she find the freedom that she needs to begin to walk in that independence she desires. (Ephesians 6:2, Exodus 20:12)

And, so I pray. I pray that her heart will be soft and willing to listen. I pray that we will exercise that parental authority with wisdom. I pray that I won’t be afraid to let her have that independence that she needs, wants, and deserves. And, I pray that I will live in obedience to the authority of my heavenly Father so that I can walk in freedom as well.