Haphazard Observations

I just got back from taking my two young dogs walking out on our property. At first when we were close to the house, they stayed on the beaten path and ran out quite a distance in front of me. I wasn’t concerned, we were close to the house still and they are fairly familiar with this part of the property. It was when I took a sharp left and headed out through a new section of pasture that they became a bit uneasy and stayed much closer to my feet. Sure, they will venture out a little, wander short circles around my vicinity, but every few seconds look up to be sure they are still near me. They couldn’t see a deer trail, tire track, or any sort of path to follow, so they had to keep a keen eye on me. What they didn’t know was that this cut across the pasture was going to lead them to “The Crick.”

We are blessed to have a creek, crick, whatever you call it depends on your geographic location and bias to the size of the body of water. Suffice to say, this body of water would never be confused for a river. 🙂 Nonetheless it is a beautiful section of our land and something a dog couldn’t even dream of. New smells and sights and sounds, and animals to experience. They had no idea the treat that was ahead of them. Only I knew that.

Once we got out in the pasture a little bit, they became more comfortable and started drifting away farther and farther. I had to call out and remind them from time to time to stay close. If they were ever to drift out of ear shot it is possible they would be lost and not only miss the opportunity for a run in the creek, they could quite possibly end up in danger or hurt.

It struck me what a metaphor that is in our relationship with God and our tendencies to lean hard on him when we are in tall grass with no idea where he is leading us and no clear path ahead to follow. When we think we know the path we are supposed to be on, it’s easy to get out in front, almost out of earshot of the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. We think we know, so we drift. But when the path is not obvious, or hell, you look up and all you see is that you are surrounded by tall grass and weeds with no visible way out, that’s when you pray and stay close to The Father, looking up every few seconds for guidance. Shouldn’t we really be staying close and within earshot always? Trusting that He knows the plans He has for you. He knows the way to the biggest adventure that you can’t even imagine.

It just serves as a reminder that if your life took a sharp left and you no longer see a clear path, it’s ok to wander out a little. It’s ok to do small circles around Jesus’s feet, explore the paths in front of you. But never drift so far out that you might be out of earshot of Him and miss the wonderful adventure waiting for you at The Crick.