License Plates

I don’t know about you, but I’m over Vanity license plates. Or at least until yesterday I was.

When they first came out, hey, I thought they were kind of cool. They were just another way of distinguishing yourself. In a sometimes grey world, a little color isn’t altogether a bad thing.

When I bought my first car, I seriously considered getting one.

But soon, it seemed that every car I passed…or passed me (I’m not that fast you see)…had a Vanity plate. So, my initial fascination with them passed. They just got too common.

Yesterday, however, I was reawakened to the potential of vanity plates for conveying important messages. I was well into a two-hour drive back from a meeting. My head was swimming with all kinds of concerns and thoughts, and I must admit I was starting to worry a bit over some potential outcomes.

I glanced to my left at a car that was passing me at that moment, and I noticed, clearly and distinctly, the license plate on that car. It was “DNTFRET”, or in other words, “don’t fret”. Don’t fret. Don’t worry your silly little head over things, things that 99 times out of 100 don’t even come true.

The words hit me like a hammer to my head, and interrupted the thought storm that I was experiencing. It was as if something, or namely somebody, was trying to get through to me. Sometimes in life we need to be hit over the head with a hammer, to wake us from mindless living. At that precise moment, I needed to be reminded of how useless worry is. And, at that precise moment, I was (reminded).

Coincidence? Again, years ago I would’ve thought so. But now, not so sure about that. For me at times, I’ve been consumed by worry. I’m working very hard to change that, and am pleased to report some progress. But, I need some support some times, a message to break through the clutter of “thought storms” as I call them, and yesterday, I got that support from a Vanity license plate of all things.

Was that God talking to me? Was that Him reaching out to me, at the precise moment I needed to hear Him? I believe so, but draw your own conclusions. Sometimes it doesn’t have to be the grandest of actions to get our attention. Sometimes He uses the most unglamorous vehicles to get His message across.

Like a license plate.

Hey, maybe I’ll just have to change my opinion of those suckers after all!

-The Minister