I’m not sure of the exact origins of the “prayer to the stoplight gods.” I think one of my sister’s Catholic ex-boyfriends came up with it. It’s really simple. Whenever you are driving and you see that you’re going to go through a yellow light, you do the sign of the cross, kiss your hand, then tap the visor above your head. I’m not entirely sure why it’s a prayer to “stoplight gods” since we’re doing the signum crucis, but that was just the way it is. The “prayer” was always a sort of funny thing to do while driving. I don’t even remember seeing my sister’s ex-boyfriend do it, yet I’ve always done it while driving.
One time, when driving home from school, I ran a yellow light and did the “prayer to the stoplight gods.” But right after I did it, I got the urge to actually pray. So I did. Something really cool happened later that day, and I realized that I was so glad that I said that quick prayer. While I was driving. Less than a mile from my house. While you’re driving doesn’t quite seem like the right time to pray, does it?
That’s what I used to think. But a year or two ago, one of the leaders at LifeTeen (Catholic youth group) told us that she prays in the car. She told us how she used to drive half an hour or so to work, and that instead of listening to the radio, she would pray. She had half an hour to burn, so why not spend it focusing on God?
And that got me thinking: Why don’t more people pray while they’re driving?
Maybe some people do. I’m just assuming people don’t, because to me, it seems like an usual thing to do.
Here is one fantastic reason why you should say at least a quick prayer while driving:
Driving is by far the most dangerous situation you put yourself in each day.
Just saying.
In all seriousness, I take it as an opportunity to thank God. Most of the time, I think of it when I drive by certain spots. I don’t know what triggers it. Most of the time, I’m singing along to some song on the radio when I think of it. But just because you’re listening to your favorite pop song doesn’t mean that you can’t spend literally ten seconds to just say “thank you God, for all of the blessings you have given me on this day.”
The thing I like the most about doing this is that we are not just thanking God for our blessings… Let’s face it: some days, everything seems to go wrong. So what is there to thank God for? To me, two things come to mind: Give thanks for the small, simple things, like the sunshine, or being able to live in a free country… Or, give thanks for the trials of the day. I think that the most common mistake (not really a mistake, more like a flaw? I’m not sure what the word I am looking for is) that people make when praying is that they thank God only when things go the way they want them to. What do we do when bad things happen? Shake our fists at the sky? Say “why are you doing this to me?” then move on with our crappy day?
I try to take time every day to give thanks for my trials, because those are what define me. Our trials in life transform us from the people we are today to the people we are going be tomorrow. Acing a math test probably isn’t going to drastically change me into the person I’m going to be tomorrow (although I can certainly give thanks for His guidance). Through trials in life, we learn, grow, and adapt to this crazy world we live in. We learn more about ourselves and our relationship with Him when we are forced to grow closer to Him. So give thanks for the difficulties, and give thanks for the struggle — not because we are thankful for negative experiences — but because these experiences always turn out to be His mercies in disguise.
Doing the “prayer to the stoplight gods” always reminds me to give thanks for everything in my life — the good and the bad. I hope that after reading this, text time you run a yellow light, you might think back to this, and say a quick prayer.
#TGIM
Bourque's Breakfast 