My husband and I have 2 divergent styles of driving the car. He likes to meander off the beaten path and enjoy the scenery. For him, “short-cut” means “long-cut.” My approach to driving is navigating as efficiently and fast as possible. It is a running joke in our household that the fastest route is always with Mom at the wheel.
THE “LONG-CUTS”
Too bad that my style of navigation isn’t God’s style. God’s life map often includes the “long-cuts.” He does not consult my plans entailing a delightful marriage to a minister with an adoring congregation. Included in the picture is motherhood to at least four loving children and an eventual abundance of grandchildren. Our real estate is a unique beautiful brick house. Along the way, I was to develop as a well-respected teacher. Yep, that was my life map. Well, I got the first plan right: marriage to a minister.
OUR DETOURS
The off-road detours were not part of my plan: losing loved friends to terminal diseases, upending our lives and moving 14 times in our marriage, coping with years of strain of unemployment and financial stress, not having any daughters to go shopping with, and saying goodbye to career dreams. The detour list goes on and on. God does not often match His GPS with mine.
THOSE WHO POINT TO JESUS
We sometimes feel like lost travelers who long for the route in which everything makes sense. Intermittently we find solace in fellow travelers who have navigated the same backroads; those who have not cursed God in the process. The blessings are the travelers who share the pain and point to Jesus.
THOSE SEASONS OF LIGHT
And yet, there are those seasons of light. The times when I had the privilege of directing children’s performances and realized that without God, none of this astoundingly joyous moment would have been possible. The occasions when I share the bottomless truth of God’s Word with a friend and finally see the “aha!” light blink in their eyes. God rides to the rescue in ways I never imagine. Indeed, God shines His light, but seldom when I claim the sole right to turn on the light.
NOT THE NAVIGATOR
I am not the navigator in the pilot seat, but part of the obedient crew in the back of the plane. I am the adventurer of Hebrews 11 who identifies with Abraham, who “was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” God calls us to be explorers who look and long “for a better country – a heavenly one.”
God may direct my path through the mud, the weeds or choose the well-maintained highway, but point A rarely goes directly and easily to point B. All He asks is that I obediently stay on His path and look at the delightful scenery He places along the way. Lord, help us to trust, even in the “long-cuts.”