The Path

Psalm 16:11You will show me the path of life;In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 25:4Show me Your ways, O LORD;Teach me Your paths.

Proverbs 3:6In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

Isaiah 42:16I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, And crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, And not forsake them.



Our piano teacher lives on a numbered county road. It isn't all that far from town, but far enough that you can't hear much traffic or noise except neighbors and this time of year especially, there are lots of farmers passing by with their implements. We always take the same route to her house and the same route home. Emma and Ruthie each take a 30 minute lesson once a week, so I have an hour of time with the two young ones to run errands. Today, after dropping the girls off for their lesson, I decided I really wanted to know where the rest of the piano teacher's road went. I had some ideas about where it might lead, but I wasn't sure. I told Olivia we were going on an adventure and off we went.

Turns out, about a half mile down, the road dead ends into a gravel driveway forcing you to turn either right or left onto another county road I was already familiar with. Some adventure. We basically saw some fields and houses on a stretch of road and then landed pretty close to WalMart. Big deal.

But, it got me thinking about our journey through life. Charlie and I are facing some choices about our next path in life and we've been carefully weighing all our options and trying to imagine the outcome of each road we could potentially travel. Of course we want to please the Lord and want Him to choose for us but, sometimes I think God wants to reveal something of greater importance--the desires of our hearts. What are we really seeking? What is it that we really want? Is it really to serve the Lord with gladness, or only to serve Him when it's comfortable and easy? What if His path takes us down an unexpected gravel road, to a place that's completely foreign? Are we still desiring to serve Him wholly?

On our way back to the piano teacher's house, I called Charlie and left him a message:
"Hi, honey, it's me. I love you. I just wanted to tell you that I don't really care what road we take as long as we're together and the Lord is leading. Wherever we go, whatever we do, it's fine with me. It will be an adventure!! I love you. Bye."

So, even if the road God has for us is really just a more scenic route back to the familiarity of life, I'll gladly travel it. Especially since He's given me so many amazing people to travel with!

Thank You, Lord for the adventure of life in You. I know You have a plan and that You are in complete control of all things. Above all else, let us glorify You. Drive all personal aspirations and desires out of our hearts and minds and allow us to serve You with whole hearts, bringing glory to Your name. In Jesus' Name, Amen.