The GPS

“Calculating route.”

“Remain on the correct route for one point six miles.”

“Ping!”

“Off route, recalculating.”

Anyone who has one of those things follows it obediently. Wherever it tells us to go, we go.

You would think that human nature was such that no one wants to take direction from a little box, especially when it seems to send us in the wrong direction, but, even so, we listen and obey even though we think we know what’s better.

The beautiful thing is, no matter how many times we mess up, the GPS never gets angry. It just keeps repeating , “Recalculating. Recalculating. Recalculating.”

I wonder how we would react if instead of that polite, measured (male or female) voice, the GPS bellowed in one of those deep, dark, echoing, James Earl Jones type voices:

“Thou shalt surely exit in five hundred feet!”

“Thou hast deviated from the prescribed course.”

“Boom!”

“Because of the errors of your ways, thou shalt remain in cyberspace for the next four point three miles until a U-turn lane shall appeareth.”

After we got used to that chill running up and down our spine every time we made a mistake, you think we would continue to listen? Or rather would we begin to resent the instructions that were given for our own benefit and still do what we think is best?

Judaism has its own GPS. It’s called Gd’s Perfect System, also known as The Bible. It is the Road Map of how to get the most out of life. It has a lot of “Thou Shalt’s” and “Thou Shalt Not’s.” That’s because the heavenly GPS knows where we really want to go and that’s the best way to get there.

And just like the earthbound GPS, Gd also treats us with infinite patience. But instead of constantly telling us, “Recalculate, Recalculate”, He sends us little turn signals, “Reevaluate, Reevaluate.” What’s really important? Where are you going with your life?

Sometimes we turn aside, sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we have veered so far off course it takes some drastic measures to get us going in the right direction. We may not like the road we have to travel, but had we listened to the first few “Pings”, we wouldn’t find ourselves in such a dead end to begin with.

We like to think that we are always in the driver’s seat. But while the little box with the wires connected to the AC outlet might tell us where to go, the Big Book with the wireless connection to the Greatest Power Source tells us how to get there. One journey at a time.