Thoughts On A Given Day

Yesterday was my birthday. I was in the midst of a massive project and really didn’t have the time or the inclination to stop and celebrate, but I did pause to speak to each of my children as they called to wish me a happy birthday, and my wife and I did have what I call a minor observance of the occasion. I knew, of course, that it was my birthday, and that I was turning (he pauses for effect) “older”, but I must confess that my thoughts were far from the occasion when my wife presented a gift to me. I was quite pleased with it, however. It was the next rendition of a t-shirt that I have been wearing for a few years now and which is rapidly becoming a bit threadbare though still well loved- shall we say holey. It is a shirt from our local hiking shop, Appalachian Outfitters, and it comes with their slogan printed on the back which states, “All those who wander are not lost.” This is, of course, a line borrowed from the poem about Aragorn in The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, which has long been one of my favorite books. It was an unexpected, but good gift, a timely break in a long series of fairly difficult days as we labor together on a long project.

I have always liked the line, all those who wander are not lost, and I can relate to it, because I enjoy hiking, and though I have on occasion not known exactly where I was, I have always known where I was going on the trail. (Another travelling quote that I like is from Quigley Down Under, which I can only paraphrase here – “don’t know where we’re going, but there’s no use in being late”. That has nothing whatsoever to do with what I am speaking about here. It’s just a train of thought ad lib sort of thing that I tossed in as gravy.) Sometimes I have gotten off the established trails, and those hikes can be a bit more harrowing, but I am still here, so, obviously, I found my way. Military training in land navigation helps (compasses, maps, and GPS devices help as well).

I said that I enjoy hiking, and I do. I find it both strenuous and relaxing at the same time, and I confess that often when I am in the midst of a long trail, carrying a heavy backpack, I think back to reading about four hobbits, two men, a dwarf, an elf, and a wizard, and I find myself thinking lines like, “I wonder what they eat when they can’t get Hobbit?” about the bugs and mosquitos I encounter along the trail. And for some reason that gives me comfort as I relate to the hardships others have endured, even though they may be entirely fictional. I do, however, desire to have a certainty of where I’m going. I like to know my destination. I like to know how long it should take me to get there and what supplies I need to pack for the journey. Is it a day hike, an overnighter, or a multiday journey? These details are important, because there are so many different things that can go wrong if you start out on a hike and are unprepared. I once underestimated how dehydrated I was on a short segment of the Appalachian Trail and I found that I didn’t even have enough saliva in my mouth to swallow a simple peanut butter cracker. That wasn’t a good situation, and the cramping I endured a short time later as a result was not pleasant, but I was able to adapt and overcome as they say in the military.

Life is a lot like hiking. We need to know our direction in life as we do in hiking, even more so. We need to know our destination in life as well. We need to know how to stay on the right path. There are many paths in life as there are in the woods, and it’s sometimes all too easy to get confused and lost. When I hike on an established trail it is usually well marked, not always, but usually. Sometimes the markers are absent or a bit obscured, and when that happens the choices and decisions are more difficult, and that’s why it pays to have as much information about the terrain, the direction, and the eventual destination as possible. Wrong choices on the hiking trail can be, and have been for many, life threatening.

Wrong choices we make as we live from day to day are life threatening also, and the path markers are much more difficult to discern. Even when we see and know the right path, and I mean absolutely know it to be the right path, it is still not easy to follow. Life is hard. It always will be. As Al Pacino’s character in the movie, Scent Of A Woman, said, “I have always known the right path to take. Without exception, I knew. But I never took it. Why? Because it was too damned hard.” He was right. It is   hard to make the right choices. It is all too often that we choose the path of least resistance. There are those of us who are lost for lack of knowing the right path. Let’s face it. Some of those who wander are lost. But there are some who know the right path and still it is difficult to follow.

God has given us many markers to follow. We have the Bible filled with scripture that He has given us to help direct our path If we will only read and understand. We have others, whether it be family, friends, or mentors, who have helped us to see and know the right path as we grow in Christ. As followers of Christ we have the Holy Spirit living within us as a helper to guide us in discernment and decisions. Life is not, and never will be, easy, but we do have help along the path.

My prayer for you is that you will seek God’s guidance in these troubled times in which we live. My prayer for myself is the same. All those who wander are not lost, because we have a savior who knows the path and who will carry us when we no longer have the strength to walk the path ourselves.

John 14:23-27

NASB

 “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.  Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

Matthew 7:13-14

NASB

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.