“God looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God.”
(Psalm 53:2 NRSV)
“And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
(Luke 18:8 NRSV)
I started playing automobile license plate games in the summer of 1959 when my family took a road trip from Detroit to the east coast and back. My brother and I tried to find plates from all 50 states or plates that had words without vowels, or make up words from the letters, etc. You get the picture. My mother was trying to occupy the time between rest stops with meaningful mental exercises so her children would stop asking “Are we there yet?”
As an adult I have tried to find a plate from every state in the course of 1 year. I have come close with missing only about 12 states when I lived in Austin. It helps to live in a really large city or a college town or a state capital. One year I actually found both Alaska and Hawaii plates on my list. It is a way to occupy time, especially in heavy traffic where there is no place to go.
In spiritual direction one is often lead to find ways to think more about God during the day and not just at morning and night prayer times. It is a good discipline to encourage growth in faith and in one’s relationship with God. The psalmist writes suggesting that God is always looking to see who is wise and willing to seek God. And in Luke we see Jesus asking this same question at the end of the Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge. The Biblical God is about all about faith. People of faith usually seek God and not just in times of stress and challenges. There are many ways to seek God, but the Lord taught me directly how to convet my licese plate game into a spiritual exercise.
Last year, I was driving to work and the car in front of me had “LJC” on its plate. “Lord, Jesus Christ,” I said out loud. And thus, my new car license plate game was born! Now, I pick a plate at random while driving and try to make up a sentence or a phrase that reminds me about God and my faith. Sometimes I even do it in parking lots. It doesn’t have to be perfect, however, it does have to empower me to think more about God during my routine in life on this planet. My own car license plate currently carries the letters “LRW” which I have assigned the prayer: Lord, rule the world. I admit it is not always easy, especially when the plate has a Z or an X on it. The easy ones have K = kingdom, J= Jesus, G= God, L = love, M= Messiah, S = service or savior, B = blessing, D = Divine, etc. I find this fun and of course as a spiritual practice, this mental exercise comes under the big heading of Prayer or Spiritual Direction. My game helps me seek God more during the daytime.
Call To action:
Check out your license plate to see if you can create a religious or faith based phrase from it. Then start playing my spiritual license plate game, but be careful to drive safely too. And don’t take pictures! As a spiritual practice, this is just between you and God. Let God keep the tally and you just enjoy playing the game and being reminded of how much God loves you during the day as you travel safely where you are going.
Thanks, Jackie–love the spiritual direction game–keeping the Lord’s name in play in the middle of traffic boredom sounds like a great way to avoid the blues and distractions that come as the default setting in the noggin! Thanks also for the reminder about looking for out-of-state license plates as a kid. That was what we did too–5 kids in one station wagon going all over kingdom come. (See how I got the “K” word in there?) LOL
Steve
Steve, Thanks for reading it. You are so sly with the K!