Skip to main content

Straight Paths

         Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

 

            I’m writing this after 6 pm the day before it will be available to read. It’s been a busy day. I helped set things up for the Mission Committee’s Yard Sale, got the ingredients I still needed to make scones for the bake sale part of it, made the scones, walked the dog 4 times, did a little housecleaning, and spent a good chunk of that time trying to figure out what Bible passage to write about. Someone shared this passage  with no idea what I was searching for, and it sparked an idea.

            It's not unlike the idea I’ve shared before that it seems to take forever when you don’t know the path. If you have landmarks or benchmarks, you feel like you’re making progress. Walking through your life, it sometimes seems as if you’re wandering in circles or that the path branches off as soon as you lose sight of the last turn. Even your detours have detours.

            As I reflect on my life, all the twists and turns disappear. There are places where I could have turned another way and where it almost looks like a knot, but even the knots are part of the straight path. And I’m with you when you say, “Yeah, but that’s looking back.”

            However, over the past several weeks, I’ve been going to a bone builder’s workout. It focuses on light weight-lifting and balance. One of the last things we do is the “Drunk walk.” We walk around the circle of chairs (30ish), heel-toe-heel-toe, trying to maintain our balance. It’s not as easy as it sounds, even sober. But by putting one foot in front of the other, we walk in a line that is approximately straight even though it curves. It takes us back to our chairs. I’ve found that if I ignore my feet and focus on the line that marks the edges of the tiles at the other end of the room, my path is more stable, and my path is also straighter. When I reach that other end, I turn ninety degrees and follow the next line in the tiles, so I walk a rectangle rather than an oval or circle, but my path is straighter.

            When we are walking with Him and trusting Him, it’s like walking the “Drunk walk.” Even if you don’t want to use that image, walking still puts one foot in front of the other.  No matter which way He leads us, it’s always one step at a time and ultimately straight. When trying to do our own thing, we tend to plan out ten or a hundred steps and at least one alternate route and then wonder why we end up lost. 

    Lord, help us to remember to walk one step at a time and to trust You in each step so that You can direct our paths.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...
Post a Comment
Read more