“Show me your ways, O LORD,
teach me your paths;

guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.” Psalms 25

It’s hard to let go sometimes. We all seem to have our agendas; our goals; our plans. We act as if they are inspired or divine in some way, but if we cut away all the pretense we really are just making things up as we go. I’m not sure we really have any more insight into our life-path than some bum waiting for the bus in Nebraska. What I mean is, who among us, if we happen to be traveling through that same bus stop in Nebraska, if approached by said bum and confronted with some profound question or offering of advice, would not at least contemplate or more than likely dwell upon his intention and/or our meeting’s purpose for at least the next few days. Our encounter with him may even lead us down a completely different path for years. This idea is simply part of our cultural conscious. We have Rick Warren for popularizing this response, but the thought has been a part of us from the beginning. We have always desired some sort of laid out path; some sort of purpose. What is our purpose? What path are we to walk? What path do we think leads home? If we where to be pushed slightly and our course altered could we right ourselves or would we even need to? Who knows the plan anyway?

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future…” Jeremiah 29

Samuel and I where heading back home one afternoon last week. I chose to take him down a different path than usual. Samuel advised that the way in which I traveled was indeed the wrong way and that I did not know where I was going. I laughed; a hardy deep bellow of a chuckle lasting quite a few minutes. How often have I been so confident in my own path that I not only advised my heavenly Father that his way was the wrong way but in fact told him he didn’t know where he was going.

God knows where he is taking us, he has plans for us, we simply need to walk his paths. I love the rest of the story found in the Jeremiah passage referenced above. God confirms his plans for us, then he concludes the matter with:

“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity.” Jeremiah 29

If we seek him and pray to him; he will listen; he will be found; he will take us back home. He knows the way, even if we are not familiar with the path.