While Christmas shopping, parking lots and garages are brutal. Here are some lessons I’ve learned from parking during the Christmas rush.
Especially during Christmas, there’s something about the parking garage experience that either brings out the best or the worst in people. Most people are in a hurry, trying to find a space. Often, I have watched as hurried people fly through a parking garage (we call them parkades here in Canada), not only endangering themselves, but others. They miss spots that are hidden behind large vehicles because they’re driving too fast to notice them.
The Danger of Moving Too Fast
Similarly, we tend to move too quickly through life. That’s a dangerous thing to do! We might not see obstacles in our way, and risk collision with other precious souls. We also miss hidden opportunities if we go too fast, wasting time in our own hurry. Proverbs 14:29 says, “Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but one who has a hasty temper exalts folly.” This applies in parking garages, and everywhere in life.
A “Me First” Attitude
People can be terribly rude in a parking garage. A “me-first” attitude can cause people to steal spaces that other drivers have already claimed with their turn signals. It can make them stop and wait for someone who’s moseying slowly to their car, just so they can get that person’
s spot. Never mind that the driver has a long line behind him and could probably get another spot quicker by just moving on and finding a spot further up the ramp. He has to hold up the entire line because he thinks he’s more important than everybody else. This kind of person would do well to remember Philippians 2:3, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.”
Confidence is Better Than Fear
People are often fearful in a parking garage. Some are afraid of getting hit by those drivers who go too fast. Others get nervous about those who slow down and follow them to their cars, just to take their parking spot—and who knows what else. Still others are concerned they might forget where they parked.
Have you ever noticed how many scary movie scenes are filmed in parking garages? They make us anxious. We’re out of our element, surrounded either by strangers or an empty, echoing parkade. Anybody might be hiding in the shadows. Rather than walking confidently with keys in hand, many people in parking garages tiptoe timidly, making themselves appear the bearing of a victim in the eyes of potential attackers. 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that “God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” Confidence is always better than fear.
Lessons from Parking During the Christmas Rush
Yes, you can tell a lot about a person from the way they park during the Christmas rush. I pray we will all learn to be a little kinder, not only in garages but in life. Galatians 5:22-23 reminds us that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control.” Let’s learn to both drive and walk in the Spirit, so that when people see us, they might see followers of God.
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