The Double Yellow Line

We all know what the double yellow line in the road means.  Do not cross.  But have you ever thought about how important that strip of simple yellow paint is?

My daughter and I were sitting in heavy Atlanta rush hour traffic earlier this week.  We had gotten off the interstate for a run through the Chick-fil-A drive thru and were about to get back on.  As we sat on an overpass we watched the cars on the interstate creep below us.  I looked to my left and so close that I could have reached out and touched it was another vehicle.  It was facing the opposite direction.  What kept us apart?  That double yellow line.  We were two vehicles, headed in completely opposite directions with nothing between us but paint!  I looked over to my daughter and commented, all these vehicles and the only thing keeping us all from being a tangled pile of metal is rules and painted directions.  Yellow lines, white lines, turn arrows, etc.  I asked her if she thought it was fair that there were so many driving rules.  She gave me a quizzical look and replied no.  I asked her if we could break them...yes, but we might get hurt.  I asked if we would be safer and happier if we watched for the lines and signals and followed them...of course.  Then I told her that is what it is like to be a parent.  We lay out the lines and rules.  Some paths are so dangerous that we erect barriers, like the concrete ones on the interstate.  But on other paths and roads, our only guidelines are the stripes of paint.  We know what we are supposed to do, but nothing is preventing us from crossing that line.  So for her to remember that when she thought some rules might not be fair, or how easy it would be to cross over some of the lines and boundaries we've placed.  That as parents we don't make those to ruin the fun, but so that she can travel far and safe and have even more freedom.  Without the lines our freedom would soon end in a mangled heap.  A lesson not just for my preteen, but for me to remember as well with the guidelines God has set out in His Word, the Bible.  Some of the "rules" may seem old fashioned and out-dated.  But they are there for our protection, not to stop us, but to help us travel further.