Life’s Complicated Steps
In the back of the building where I work, there’s a fence row that divides the property of my employer and a homeowner residing on the other side. The fence top is layered in barbed wire and circular safety guards, much like you see in prison yards to keep prisoners from escaping. Throughout the length of the fence, limbs and branches of trees have entwined themselves in the spiked wires, creating one mess of tangled confusion.
As I slid into my parking space this morning, I noticed a rather large squirrel begin his journey across the top of the fence. He maneuvered himself in and out, around and about the entanglement of tree branches and spikey barbed wire. I cringed for him…watching him was painful and I held my breath as I waited for him to start bleeding from a prick from one of those sharp barbs. I’m not sure how he kept his footing, but he did. And, he successfully navigated the maze of obstacles that should have kept him from going through. Relief that he got through okay, without a blood bath, was a grateful feeling.
I’ve played that scene through my memory a few times today, and I can’t help but think about how God watches us as we walk through the complicated, obstacle-filled journey called life. Does He hold His breath as we careen down a path that isn’t His will? Does His heart ache to know that we so often choose to fight through the entanglements of life without His guidance? Does He wonder when we will turn our eyes back to Him and allow His mercy to cover us…even if we do go through struggles not of our choosing?
I knew – because I could see it – that the squirrel could have followed a much easier path had he chosen to cross over the ground rather than the fence-top. My range of vision was much broader than what the squirrel could see…and by the same token, God’s knowledge of what is before us is beyond anything we could fathom or understand. He loves us and His desire for us — more than we could ever know this side of heaven — is to be led of His Spirit and to be covered in His presence during each and every one of our life’s complicated steps.
Will we fail? Will life be easy? Yes, we will fail. But when we fail, He is there to redirect our path when we cry out to Him. And when life is nothing but a struggle, He will comfort us with His presence and our joy will come in the morning.
If you are following the calendar series, here is the month of May. Download your printable 4 x 6 calendar here and be reminded that when you cry out to God, He hears and He answers!
