Left Turn Honkers

LEFT TURN HONKERS

One Sunday morning when I was a teenager my mother, my sister, and I got in the car and started off for church.  Since my father was the bishop, he had left earlier and gone alone.  We weren’t very far into the trip before we discovered that every time we turned left the car horn began honking wildly.  There was obviously some sort of short in the system.
I was so embarrassed that I suggested we turn around and go home.  My sister, always unflappable, couldn’t have cared less if we attracted attention.  My mother, who was driving, insisted that we might as well go on to church, as there seemed no point in honking all the way back and sitting home when we could be at Sunday School.  So on we flew, bracing ourselves every time we approached a left turn.  
The responses of our fellow motorists proved interesting.  Some people stared in scorn that we were so rude as to disturb the Sabbath tranquility with our dreadful jangle.  Others looked upset, afraid that we were directing our honks at them personally for some unknown misdeed.  Making one turn, we passed a carload of men who thought we were flirting with them and began following us. (They kept going when we turned into the church parking lot.)
Since Fort Worth was a city about the size of Salt Lake, but with only one ward, it was a long way to church.  There are a lot of left turns when you travel miles of windy southern roads, but we finally arrived, laughing so hysterically we could hardly compose ourselves to enter the chapel with the proper demeanor.  How glad we were to arrive at our destination! After church the horn was 
disconnected so that we could travel home without attracting attention.
I began to understand the Savior’s injunction about judging.  Situations and people may not be what they seem.  So much of what we observe in others is really just a reflection of our own lives, interests, and preconceptions.  Fellow travelers on life’s highways have little real insight into the challenges and predicaments of those whom they meet at the crossroads.
        I still sometimes charge through life as a left turn honker, totally inappropriate and out of context.  I can only hope that I will see and be seen through the lens of mercy and humor.  I pray that my fellow travelers and I will arrive at last, in spite of difficulties along the way, at the Lord’s house - with laughter on our lips and joy in the journey we have made together.
Sue Anne S. Lambert Oct 2005