The Path in Front of Me

Our last walk at Fisher Pond inspired this blog.  You can place it under the category of: “You can find a sermon in anything.”  Something my dad (who is a preacher) used to say all the time.

Yesterday started off with both Mel and I feeling blue.  Getting out for some fresh air is always good for both of us whenever we feel this way.  We decided to go to our new favorite walking trail, Fischer Pond.  It has snowed every day for at least four days, and yesterday was the first dry and sunny day in a while.  The sun very often hides behind the clouds here and seldom shows itself.  We figured we would be in for a cold walk and a snowy path, but we did not expect it to be so icy.  We had to walk slowly and it made for a bit of a tedious walk, although, as you can see by the pictures in my last post, it was very beautiful. 

While we were carefully walking, trying not to fall, I said something along the lines of, “As long as we keep our eyes on the path in front of us and do not get distracted by the unseen path ahead, we are less likely to slip.”  Then I laughed and added, “Now I know what my next blog will be about.” 

It is just as in life, that as long as we keep our eyes on where we are at that moment and do not focus too much on what is unseen, we are less likely to fall.  It is so easy to worry about what tomorrow holds and want so very much to see ahead.  The same can also be said if we try to look behind and focus too much on the past.  If we had turned our heads behind as we walked on the icy path, we certainly would have fallen.  Therefore, as soon as we take our eyes from what God is trying to show us, we slip; we fail to see what God is trying to teach us. 

I am not saying I have finally figured out why the heartbreaking things in this life happen, because I do not feel I will have a single answer until the next life.  What I am saying is that I am trying to focus more on the path in front of me, not on what is behind me (although my grief is still very present), and try to see what God is wanting to show me in the here-and-now.

Simple and not very profound, but it is what was laid on my heart for today! 

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. – Matthew 6:34

 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,  I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:12-14