Traveling (Devotion 2.1)

If I give you directions, it is probably best you consult a GPS.  My directions consist of landmarks which may or may not be located where I tell you they are.  In my mind, it is clear.  But when I speak about it, somehow it gets jumbled.  If I’m honest, though, I really don’t know where I am going most of the time.  Directions just aren’t my thing.  I am probably as directionally challenged as they come.  Some days I don’t let this slow me down.  I am blissfully lost and just keep moving.  I’ll find my way eventually.  But at other times, it has caused me to not try challenges for fear I will be forever lost.  I find this in life as well.

We can get caught up in the movement of life that we forget where we are going, how to get there, or why we are even on this path.  We can wake up one day and not know how we got there or what in the world we are even doing.  It can even be so distressing that we feel hopeless and maybe even…lifeless.  But waking up is the key, even when it is painful to realize this isn’t where we intended to be.

I have some wonderful guides in this life.  My wife, children, family and friends have been lights to help me on my way.  But they can’t ultimately do anything but show me where I am.  I have to find the way.  I rely on my faith but can get lost there too (my own fault, of course).  Waking up, realizing where I am, and finding where I should be heading is so important.  For me, this has been most realized when I am in silence.  When nothing else can impede or distract my thoughts, I can listen.  I listen to nature, singing the songs of goodness.  I listen to life lessons I have heard from those who have gone before me.  I listen to God as he seeks to show me the way.  

And…I get up and travel forward.  I travel one step at a time.  But this time, I travel with intent, not aimlessly.  

Move forward, there is still lots to see.

Psalm 94:18-19 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised)
When I thought, ‘My foot is slipping’, your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.