It Is The Road

 It Is the Road

 

“I run the same path as your commandments because you give my heart insight.

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”

-Psalm 119:32,105 (CEB)

 

 

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ*,

As the days have turned to weeks and the weeks to months, we continue to ask the question, “How long, O lord?” (Psalm 13) How long will this go on? How long will we be separated from our family and friends? How long will it take to get over this bump before we can get back to the road?

 

I have been contemplating this and I am sure that Dave likely has as well. I certainly didn’t imagine my first year of ordained ministry to look like this, Zoom Bible studies, Team staff meetings and, pre-recorded YouTube worship services. If I have voiced these words once, I have voiced them over 100 times. Sometimes I feel anger; sometimes sadness; other times I feel a bit hopeless about this bump in the road. I cannot see what is on the other side of it and it feels like I am climbing up the bump and with each step the bump grows higher, keeping the illusive crest just out of reach.

 

But then, about a week ago, while out walking in the woods, I had a sudden moment of clarity. Why is it that I thought my vision of what my first year of ministry would look like would be the only option of what would happen? Good question, thought I. But in reality, my vision was just that…a vision out of many visions. It was not in any way guaranteed. None of the days ahead have a guarantee about what they will be. 

 

Therefore, I realized that this WAS the vision. This WAS the road. This bump is not a sidetrack to my journey. It is not a bump that needs to be conquered so that I can get back on the “right” path. It is part of the path. It is the vision like the path that makes a squiggly line moving left and right and around the trees in the forest.

 

Suddenly I felt lighter and freer. Since I am on the path, the only path I have, then I don’t have to struggle to get past it. But rather, I can live into it; live into the bump, the road, the path, leaning forward with all my might yearning for what comes next.

 

Accepting the path that I am on, as the path that God has planned for me, has allowed me to refocus my thoughts, my spirit and my energy. Remembering that God knows the plans made for me and lights the path in front of me encourages me as I take one more step forward into the days, weeks, and months ahead. May you find some peace and encouragement from these words.

Peace and blessings,
Pastor M.P. and Pastor Dave