Recalculating….

If you have done any amount of traveling you may have used a GPS system on your phone or car to navigate you from Point A to Point B.  On using such a system, maybe you have experienced the calm voice of your navigational guide informing you of a wrong turn or action that has taken you out of your programmed route.  The voice…usually a feminine one…tells you she is “recalculating” your route and continues to communicate instructions to return you to your desired path. Honestly, some days I feel like the Queen of Recalculating! 

Have you ever felt like you were just barely moving along on an unknown, unmarked, dimly illumined highway? Has your life been detoured through the selfish choices of people around you, your own foolish choices, an unexpected medical diagnosis, or just crazy unexplained circumstances?  Maybe you woke up one morning and wondered, “How did I get here?”

I have been pondering this verse as I continue to find myself in a perpetual state of “recalculating.” “A man’s mind plans his way (as he journeys through life), But the Lord directs his steps and establishes them.” ( Proverbs 16:9)  Given I believe in an omniscient God, this verse gives me hope and peace.  My Father God, already knows the who, what, why and where of my life.  He knows me and my wanderings from beginning to end….every detail, big and small….every emotion I will ever feel…every tear I will cry…every giggle and snorting belly laugh…every reaction, right or wrong…every person that will cross my path…every word I will utter…every sigh that escapes my lips…He knows it all. 

When life happens and detour signs appear, seemingly out of nowhere, my God not only directs and re-directs my steps, He establishes them as well.  Webster says the definition of establish is to make firm or stable, to cause to grow and multiply, to bring about. When I am my wobbliest, most unstable, insecure and confused self, God is shoring up, anchoring, and even rebuilding the roadway underneath my faltering, stumbling feet.

In this peculiar season of my life I am aware that I walk a little slower, no longer in the grip of busy-ness….I stop to soak in the soft pastels of a setting sun….I relish puttering in my kitchen,the creativeness of cooking, and savoring the fruits of my labor….my soul yearns for solitude, quiet, a good book, meaningful conversations with friends and loved ones. Surprisingly, one morning I woke up to discover I had new traveling companions….contentment and restfulness had slipped in quietly beside me to accompany me on my thoroughfare of life.