Ever feel like you’re spending most of your life in the car? Take Wednesday for example. 11:45 a.m.: “Baby Car Pool,” with Patrick and several of his little friends. Conversation? Well, Mickey told me that his mommy has a new baby in her tummy, and Ryan explained three times why he needed a Superman Band Aid on his finger.

Precious cargo delivered, Patrick and I hit the road again. Sherwin-Williams for paint. Cloth World for fabric. Eckerds for prescriptions. Before I knew it, time for my “Big Boy Car Pool” had arrived. “Never be late,” is one of the cardinal rules my two teenage sons have impressed on me.

As I sat in the parking lot of the high school, waiting for seven teenage boys to pile into the van, I reviewed the other car pool rules my sons have stressed. It must be wearisome for teenagers to have to train their parents!

1. Turn off all music! If you like it, the guys won’t!
2. Slang from the fifties and sixties is banned. “Cool” and “neat” are out!
3. Current teenage jargon should never pass a mom’s lips. “Awesome” and “radical” are forbidden.
4. Don’t ask embarrassing questions like, “How is school coming?”
5. Don’t call attention to the fact you’re even there behind the wheel. Who wants his mom to still drive him when he’s in high school anyway?

After car pool, I drove uptown for Mark’s doctor appointment, then to shop for new pair of pants. By the time I brought him home, I needed to pick up my cheerleader. One more jaunt back to the high school to drop Peter at Open House! Tired yet? I saw an ad for a mini van recently that read like this: Whoever invented the term “Stay at home Mom” should have his head examined!

Of course, not every day is as busy as Wednesday, but I hope this description has convinced you that I’m living in the real world like you, finding very little quiet or contemplation built into a typical day. Yet, there are ways to live in the presence of God on even the most hectic car pool days.

For instance, when alone in the car, I play Christian tapes...sometimes a teaching, the Rosary, or music. You’d be amazed how the Lord can minister to you as you sing his praises even in the midst of a traffic jam! Then there are times I just pray in tongues, interceding according to the mind of God. “We know not how to pray but he Spirit helps us in our weakness” (cf. Rom. 8:26).

As I pass certain places I extend my hand in prayer and blessing. For example, once my car broke down, and a kind woman let me use her phone. Now every time I pass her home I call down the Lord’s blessing on her. Her husband and I pray daily against the activities in an abortion clinic on our route. If I pass a Catholic church, I make the sign of the cross or bow my head to acknowledge the real presence of Jesus in the tabernacle.

When I’m in the car with only one of my kids, I use those few moments to give that child some individual attention through a question, compliment or correction. In my “Baby Car Pool” I’m not bound by the teenage rules, so I can freely share Jesus with these little ones. Sometimes I play a Bible song tape, and the van rocks to a chorus of “This Little Light of Mine, I’m Gonna Let It Shine.” Yes, I even prayed for Ryan’s finger right there in the van, and I assured Mickey that he’s going to be a good big brother to that new little baby in his mommy’s tummy.

With my “Big Boy Car Pool” I’m more discreet. But you’d better believe that I’m talking to Jesus silently about the needs I see in the young men I cart back and forth. Like the short kid who’s surrounded by tall guys like my Mark, or the fellow who lost a brother to suicide, or the one who never has his papers together neatly or...Well, you get the point.

Car pooling can be a time-consuming task. It’s easy to grumble about it. But there is another alternative. We parents can seize every moment, even those in the car, to draw closer to God and to make him known to the children in our care. Safe, happy and Spirit-filled driving to you all! © Patti Gallagher Mansfield, 2007, www.ccrno.org