Show Me the Way

 

Everywhere we walk around the city, there are lights at the corners. Some use the words “Walk” and “Don’t Walk”. Some count down as time passes on a safe crossing. Others, like the light at this intersection, use the symbol of a hand for “stop” and the profile of a person walking for “go”. The lights for pedestrians are synchronized with the lights for the cars to provide an efficient, safe flow of traffic

I grew up in a more rural setting. We did not have sidewalks or street lamps or lights to tell us when to cross. On the other hand, we didn’t have much traffic. So it all worked out.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were pedestrian lights set up at every corner of our life? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, at every big decision point in our life, we could just look at the light? Stop. Go. Hurry up. Time is running out. Stress levels would go down and anxiety would diminish. There would be fewer “accidents”. Life would flow efficiently and safely.

Decisions about what college to attend, which job to take, when to move and to whom to commit would be so much easier with flashing lights and countdown numbers. It would feel safer. Life would be more efficient and less messy. But life wouldn’t be life, would it?

Life is the journey itself. It is wrestling with decisions. Life is the payoff of hard work and risk. Life is the wisdom forged through poor decisions and failed plans. Life is a road filled with traffic and noise and no small amount of danger. We become who we are by this journey of choices.

The Psalmist writes, “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.” That is the way to face every intersection, to wrestle with every decision, to endure any danger. Know God loves us, even when we choose poorly, even when our life is a wreck, even when we don’t know which path to choose. As strange as it may sound, that is the life.

Peace.