Total Pageviews

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

What Are You Doing...

Just the other day I found myself asking the question, "What am I doing?"

No, not what am I doing per say on a given task, or even what I was doing at the moment of my musing, but rather what am I doing with my life? Have you ever been there? 

Now I have reached the point in life where I can look back and see a significant patch of the road I've crossed. Some of it smooth and well paved; while other bits were torn and pockmarked, and still other patches were bare dirt and grass...all together undeveloped.

So as all good travelers do, I stopped and reconnoitered. Looking to the stars, I considered personalities like Abraham, Moses, and David. Looking deeper still, I sat and talked with the likes of the Apostles Peter and Paul. And in so doing, I discovered my road, the road we call life, was not so different from the roads they walked during their earthly sojourn.

From Abraham I found out that the road is sometimes much longer than I had planned when I set out. And from Moses I discovered that sometimes the very people you stop to help can be the heaviest part of the burden. Then David told me to be careful when I think I have arrived at a point of safety because there is always a temptation waiting on the next balcony over.

Had I completed my journey at that point my plate would have been full. But at this particular rest stop, these fellow travelers insisted on sharing their collective knowledge. So, Peter told me about his walking on the water and sinking. Then he winked at me and said, "Yeah, I sunk, but when Jesus grabbed my hand I turned and walked back to the boat; stepping on the very thing that had overwhelmed me earlier." And in the way that only a fisherman could, he poked my ribs and said, "...stay salty and keep on walking."

Finally, I turned to Paul. I have to admit I was feeling a little intimidated; after all this guy had written most of the New Testament. He must have sensed my dis-ease because he laughed and wrapped an arm around my shoulders and told me that he had been the chief of sinners, but that God had saved him not because he had earned it nor because he had some great ability to believe. He said the Father chose him simply because God could use his life, his list of failures to show how great the Father's love was for a lost and dying world.

Feeling much better, I closed my map, running my hand over the smooth familiar leather and sighed. How good it was to have a sure light for my path and a steady lamp to light my way. It was at this point that I got back on the road and continued my journey. Who knows, perhaps at the next rest stop someone may look to me as one of those stars along the way.  ....just something to ponder.