The navigator

By joannsblog2016 on March 4, 2024 • ( 0 )

Are you bad with directions? Have you been lost or perhaps just made a wrong turn or missed your turn?

My youngest daughter loves to go on long drives. She or I pick a location to drive to. One of our criteria is that it has some country roads. We usually have no agenda when we arrive at our location. For us it isn’t about the destination but the drive together. You see, her primary love language is quality time and this is one space where it is just me and her. Some of our drive is met with conversation while other parts are just presence, enjoying the scenery, the music, or time together.

This weekend, she suggested we go on a drive. We each have a role in this drive. I drive and she navigates. She’s generally a pretty good navigator but this time there were a few distractions. We were either deep in conversation or some freeze dried candy taste so good that she completely forgot to tell me to exit. Needless to say, we kind of missed a few turns and had to detour or u-turn. The beauty of our journey was that we weren’t on a time constraint nor had a real agenda, so we just found humor in it. I will say she did think it would be cool if we were to get lost and end up somewhere that we would have to stay the night (like in a Hallmark movie I guess). She thought that would be a fun story to tell. Mom, not so much.

As we were driving home and she fell asleep, I started wondering how often I try to navigate my life and am met with distractions throwing me off course from the map God placed before me. It is so easy to miss an opportunity God presented me with, or discern a different direction because something caught my eye. Or in some cases finding myself completely lost with no direction.

How often do you take the wrong turn or miss a turn in your life choices?

Psalm 139 tells us that God knows everything about us, when we sit and when we stand, every word before we speak it. He must know every direction we will take before we even think it, even when we detour or become lost.

There might be a lot of things that throw us off course, such as distractions, other influences and circumstances but you can bet if you are willing, He will place you back on the path. This is the beauty of our God and His love for us. Jesus tells us the parable of the prodigal son who is a prime example of someone who lost his way and later found it.

It takes less time for some people and longer for others to find there way back on course in their journey. Some may resist their entire lives until they take that last breath. Since God is a merciful God, the minute we stop resisting the directions He lays before us, just like Siri, He reroutes us to our final destination. This life we are traveling on is as temporary as a road trip through the country. How many wrong turns, missed turns or detours will you take to your final destination? Will you continue to resist the navigator or allow God to realign the directions so you are headed towards the destination of eternity that brings everlasting life?