Driving in my little Subaru... a spiritual practice

I was so befuddled last night when we got home from our whirlwind weekend in California that I brushed my teeth with Benadryl cream... the opposite of being mindful and grounded. I have been practicing “Paying Attention” and “Waking Up to God”, the first two chapters in An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor, but jet lag and weddings leave my introvert self wrung out and unable to do much beyond mumble and moan. So today I will wallow in quiet and spend quality time with my animals whose speech is mostly non-verbal. I might even get in my new (to me) Subaru Outback and take a drive to a mountaintop for some more peace and quiet.
When our MPV began breaking down regularly (cars tend to do that when they are eleven years old), we found a good deal on a used Subaru Outback the color of metallic gravel dust. The color is important because we live on a gravel road and I wanted something that would at least disguise the fact the car had not been washed for a month. But this little wagon came with so much more... heated seats, a moon roof, six cd player, rubber floor mats, all wheel drive (important when you live in the mountains in the winter), a display window that gives you temperature, average miles per gallon, miles per gallon as you are driving and good gas mileage. When you live in the country, trips to town are made with due consideration. You don’t just hop in the car and drive in to pick up milk at Ingle’s... at least, I don’t. During the recent gas shortage, I was uncomfortably aware of how much gas I used and how I took easy transportation for granted.
I have been playing a little game as I drive. I turn the display window to the mile per gallon display that shows you how much gas you are using as you drive. It is fascinating to watch the numbers change as you accelerate or climb hills or start up from a full stop. I remembered reading that you should press the gas pedal as if there were a raw egg beneath your foot and you don’t want to break it. I tried that and the miles per gallon jumped up. So now I am hooked, addicted to making the most of each gallon of gas. I am the little old lady driving the speed limit in the right lane, being passed by the rest of the world on their way in a hurry to somewhere. But, I have made an interesting spiritual discovery in this process.
When you let go of the need to drive as fast or faster than the other cars, a small switch is turned on. This switch calms my soul. I observe. I see. I relax. I am not competing for quicker, better, sooner, first, nor do I worry about those pesky police who keep stopping people for speeding. Paying attention to the raw egg beneath my gas pedal foot shifts my focus and I am able to let go of the illusion that 70 miles per hour is better than the 60 mile per hour speed limit. I play by the rules and that frees me.
In my spiritual life, a similar transformation awaits when I play by the rules. Paying attention, I see God all around me. Abiding by the Golden Rule of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you gives me open eyes so that I see God in the faces of all who surround me. Practicing the Raw Egg Rule as I drive slows more than my car. It slows my breathing, my mind, my soul and I find a quiet space in my little Subaru, time for meditation and prayer. Letting go of my needs for just a little while gives God an opportunity to break through into my mostly self centered world and “I can hear my Savior calling, follow, follow, follow me”. I wake up to God.
So don’t cuss or sputter when you get stuck behind me or any other slow driver on the road. We may be praying for you and all of us need all the prayer we can get. Wave as you pass us by or better yet, slow yourself down and see if those extra few minutes you gain getting there earlier are really worth it. Life is too precious a gift to waste time being in a hurry.