So that means you have to move. Maybe you go without a destination in mind. And that invokes trust. Trust for a path, a way to get to somewhere you know you're going to eventually end up.
This was my life last Thursday. I had the day off, so naturally I can't just sit at home and twiddle my thumbs. I'm also currently taking part in the 52 hike challenge where you commit to do at least 1 hike per week. Cue attempt to find somewhere to go hiking. I sat at 2 Story on Wednesday before Wesley and compiled a pretty long list of hikes within a 2 hour radius of Athens. Here were the problems: (1) It was supposed to rain. (2) I wasn't feeling any of them.
I told a couple of people my predicament and they all said the same thing. Just get in your car and drive. Now, this wouldn't be my first time doing that. Usually I do so with kind of an idea of a direction or destination in mind, but this would literately be me aimlessly driving around looking for somewhere to go hiking.
I thought about it some more and decided I would just pick somewhere on the list, even if I didn't really want to go there that day. I would take the easy way out. God had a little chat with me. He basically told me that if I couldn't trust him in something that small, how do I think I'm going to trust Him in the bigger things that I'm asking for in my life right now? Wow. Thanks for the slap in the face.
Thursday comes. I still have it somewhere in the back of my mind that I'm just going to pick somewhere off the list when it was made very clear to me the night before that was not what would be best for my day. So I did it. I walked to my car at 9:45am and pulled out.
Destination: I have no idea.
And that bothered the heck out of me. Those of you who know me know that I am a planner. The fact that I hadn't planned a single thing for the day drove me nuts. So I put on some worship music to try and chill out my stressed out mind that was trying to plan my turns and my next moves. And that's when my day of learning began.
God won't allow you to waste your life away by going in circles.
I got on the loop. I decided I would keep driving on the loop until I literately heard where He wanted me to turn off. The thought of "What if I keep driving around in circles on the loop all day?" plagued my mind. It was then I decided that if I hadn't found anywhere by 12 noon, I was packing the whole thing up and heading back home. That's when one of the exits just stood out to me, so I took it.
He has his ways of helping keep His kids from going wrong down roads.
I drove for about 30 minutes or so down that road when I decided it was time to switch it up. I was getting bored of being on the same road and not finding any destination. I told myself that I would take the next turn that came up. I saw a sign for an exit looming in the distance and became excited. I got to the point where I was about to turn when I was blocked by two large orange and white signs that read "Road Closed." Guess I was going to be on that road a little longer...
There's always grace, even when we don't deserve it.
About 15 minutes later, I passed a road I knew I was supposed to turn on to. Yeah, I could have made a u-turn but I didn't because in my mind, the road didn't look like it lead anywhere. And more importantly in the moment, it didn't look like it lead anywhere I wanted to go. I was just going to play it safe for the time being. 30 minutes later, I came across that same road again. Turns out, if I had taken it, it would have taken me half of the time. But I guess I wouldn't have learned that lesson.
Sometimes you have to make decisions in a moment that lacks clarity.
The road I was on suddenly came to an end and I was forced to go either left or right. And in that moment, I didn't feel anything. I had no idea what to do, so I made an impulse decision (because I had to...either that or pull over or turn around). I went right. It wasn't 5 minutes down the road that I saw a sign for Athens. I was backtracking. I promptly turned the car around and began heading in the direction that I would have gone had I turned left. All was right again, but in that moment, I was a little confused.
You don't have to discover something great to be a success.
This came out of a side convo God and I had on the road, not anything specific that happened. I was concerned with if I was going to even make it anywhere that day and that's what he told me. I feel like our generation has a mindset that if we don't see a result or find something amazing almost immediately, we get discouraged. We might try something else or give up all together. But that's not at all how we've been called to live. We've already been given all we need. We live under open heavens with the kingdom at our fingertips, and it's time we start acting like it. Me included.
Sometimes it's about the journey and not the destination.
This ties into what I said above. I wasn't even sure at this point if I was even going to find somewhere. As of then, it was just me, God, my music, and the road. And that should have been more than enough for me, but I was still anxious about finding somewhere to stop before noon.
It's 11:45 and somehow I ended up somewhere north of Atlanta. At that instant I think about Kennesaw Mountain. I've always wanted to go there and climb up, but I never wanted to go through Atlanta to get there. I decided to plug it in my phone's GPS just to humor my thoughts. It says I'll be there in 18 minutes, so I thought "Hey, why not?" I literately told God at that point that if that thought wasn't from him or if He had something different for me to just say no, and I would keep driving.
12:00 noon. I pull into the parking lot for the Kennesaw Mountain trail. Could I myself have orchestrated better timing. Nope. Not at all. I had a mini moment of being genuinely impressed before I got out of my car and headed to the trail with a multitude of other hikers.
Humankind is beautiful.
People have stories that they are burning to share with others, and when it comes down to it, we're all the same. I had the chance to meet some pretty unique and cool people up on the mountain. From a group of Mormans to a lady with a 5 month old Aussie and 2 kids to a guy and his girlfriend from Ohio, I had all the time in the world up there to just be.
It's ok to not be able to see the whole picture.
Thursday was cloudy. I knew it was going to be. It was also supposed to rain (it didn't until later that night). Cloudiness meant I had limited sight, and I couldn't see the line of the mountains in the distance. But that was ok, because in the moment, I was learning to be content with where I was on the journey with what I had. Now don't get me wrong, I'll probably venture back again on a clear day to take in the full view, but even today's limited sight range view was one for the books.
Happy endings don't always come from comfortable paths.
Sometimes a path is hard, but other times, it may be obvious.This goes as my overall take-away from today. From the journey I took to get there to the actual hike to get up the mountain, it was definitely a trust-building exercise for me.
Last Thursday, I learned about myself and I learned about my God. Looking back, I wouldn't have changed anything about the journey and I can see how each little thing tied together to make my whole day.
Such is life.
Megan
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