Muddy Trails

“There’s more to the trail than the dirt. Look Up.”

Loren Thornburg

I love walking on dirt trails, especially ones that come with a view. The only problem is that unlike paved trails, when it rains they take a while to dry and thus become muddy. Sometimes I still venture them in their muddiness, but what I find is that I am so focused on navigating the muddy spots that I forget to look around and enjoy the view. It seems this is not much different from the trail of life. When there’s been rain and things get hard to navigate we get so focused on the muddy situation in front of us that we lose sight of what is around us and the beauty that remains. These hard situations definitely need our attention. If I were to walk the trail without awareness of the muddy spots I would come home even more a mess. Yet, mud does not have to keep me from enjoying the view. In life too I can stop in the midst of the tough spot and enjoy what’s around me. I can look past myself, past my situation, past the mud and into the beauty that has become through the storm. We can navigate the hard spots and still enjoy the beauty. Don’t miss it because of the mud.

“When I took a long, careful look at your ways, I got my feet back on the trail you blazed.”

Psalm 119:59 The Message

It’s easy to get focused on the trail and miss the God who made the trail, who blazed the trail and is blazing the trail. As we are focused on the trail God is focused on us, inviting us to turn our focus to Him. The trail is only a means of our relationship with Him. Yes, He wants to help us out of the muddy trails we find ourselves on, but more than that He wants us to trust Him in the midst of the mud. He wants us to enjoy Him and His ways whatever trail we find ourselves on. Unfortunately we miss Him because our focus is more on the mud than on His ways. Yet, ironically the best way out of the mud is looking to Him and not the mud. Let’s get our eyes off of the mud and onto the One who is blazing the trail.

Key Ingredients

“Thankfulness is one of those key ingredients that you should add into everything.”

Loren Thornburg

As we start cooking we gather our list and head to the store making sure each ingredient it accounted for. Some ingredients are more key than others so that if they were forgotten or missing on the day of cooking we could make do without them. However there are other ingredients that are crucial in the combination. Fruit salad without the fruit, mashed potatoes without the potatoes, pumpkin pie without the pumpkin. Those dishes just don’t work without the basics and neither do our lives. Sometimes in the midst of making shopping lists for dinner we forget the things we most need to make sure we have for our lives. Thankfulness is one of those ingredients. It’s like butter. It makes everything taste better. With more thankfulness in the mix you can’t help but find a little more joy and a little more life. There is so much to be thankful for even when things get really hard. What are the ingredients do you need in your life right now? Don’t forget the thankfulness when you look at the recipe of your life.

“Be joyful always, pray at all times, be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus.”

1 Thessalonians 5:18 Good News Translation

I am so glad God isn’t asking us to be joyful ‘for’ everything or thankful ‘for’ everything but to be thankful ‘in’ the midst of those things. There are some things that I am not thankful for or joyful for but God is asking that I would chose to look to Him and remember that ‘in’ Him I can be thankful still. I can still pray ‘in’ Him even when times are hard. I can still find joy ‘in’ Him even when the outcome doesn’t look good. I can still be thankful ‘in’ Him, for who He is and remember the gifts He has given me even in the circumstances that look beyond repair. This still doesn’t mean that I have to be fake about who I am and how I am doing, but that I can choose to remember who God is and the life He has given me in Jesus above and within the things that are hard. I can be both walking through a hard season but finding joy and thanks. I can have union with Jesus and all that Jesus is and all that Jesus brings; in all the peace, joy, life and freedom. Those things are offered to me. That is reason to see joy, reason to pray, reason to be thankful. This is what God wants from me because He wants it for me.

Held Together

“There is a union, a companionship by which we are held together.”

Loren Thornburg

Picture with me, what was described to me...an elderly couple on the dance floor, trying to keep up with the square dance calls that require as much mentally as physically. Now the wife is not up to par with the other dancers, but that doesn’t stop the husband from taking her by the hand and leading her each step of the way to keep her on track and on the dance floor. This is true companionship someone with whom you share experiences with. It also reflects the archaic definition, “a raised frame with windows on the quarterdeck of a ship to allow light into the decks below.” This speaks into the depths of the picture of the union of companionship, of someone who allows light into the places that would otherwise be dark. We all need this. We all have these dark places in our decks below that don’t seem so dark when we have someone willing to share that experience with us, to partake in it with us. In doing so they allow light to come in. This is exactly what this husband did as he took his wife by the hand and helped her to dance. There is a union, a companionship that we were made for. We can’t do it alone. We need someone to allow the light in that holds us together.

“So his companions led him by the hand…” Acts 9:9 NLT

“I, John, your brother and companion (sharer and participator) with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patient endurance which are in Jesus Christ…”

Revelation 1:9 Amplified

In Acts we see the story of Saul, blinded on the road to Damascus by God. Saul fell to the ground at the sight of the light beaming down on him hearing the voice of God speak to him. Those traveling with Saul didn’t understand what happened, but they continued on with him, leading him by the hand. I love this picture and how it applies to us at times when although we are not physically blind, we need help being able to see the way through our hard times. It is as John describes himself in Revelation as a companion, a sharer and participator not only in the times of celebration, but also in those hard times that require endurance and patience. God gives us these companions at different seasons in our lives as a reflection of His perfect companionship that truly holds us together. At times we experience this more than others with him and with others but that doesn’t change the fact that we are held. He is our dance partner that loves to show us the next step even when we can’t keep up. He knows us, holds us and leads us by the hand. He invites us to share and partake in life with Him in a dance where we don’t have to know the next step for He will lead the way.

Silence Speaks

“Silence is the platform on which we can hear.”

Loren Thornburg

Have you seen the big noise-cancelling headphones? I am a big fan of mine. I never realized how loud an airplane is until I take my headphones off. Similarly I don’t realize how loud my life can be until I stop for silence. At different busy seasons of my life I find I am filled with thoughts I didn’t know I had until those moments that I lay my head on the pillow for my first moment of silence in the day. Not an ideal time for those thoughts, as that is the time I want to sleep. Yet, it is upon those moments of silence that we can hear that which is going on within us and through us. Without the silence we don’t hear and without hearing we miss the things that really matter in the depths of our hearts beyond the surface of the busyness of our day.

“Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly.”

Psalm 85:8

God gives what is good as the psalmist reminds us of later in this psalm. He is about what is good for you and for His kingdom. Sometimes I think we keep from silence and from listening because we are afraid of what we will hear. But, we are promised throughout scripture, like in this verse, that the voice of the Lord brings peace. The other voices that we hear are not the Lord and they lead to our folly, which is marked by foolishness and purposelessness. Though our fear of these voices keeps us from entering the quiet of the silence we can turn to Jesus who is for us and for our good. In the Message version the psalmist “can’t wait to hear what he’ll say. God’s about to pronounce his people well. They holy people he loves so much, so they’ll never again live like fools.” God is about us! He loves us and wants to pronounce us well and speak good things to us. Don’t miss them in fear of what the silence will bring. Invite Jesus to speak into the silence of your life. Make room for Him to do that. He wants to speak to you and bring peace. Risk the fear of the silence and listen for His voice of peace that silences all other voices.

Open Up

“You have to open up to be free.”

Loren Thornburg

Twice a year I go for my routine teeth cleaning. Not because anything is wrong but to prevent anything from becoming wrong. It’s rather awkward with my mouth wide-open and a dental hygienist up-close and personal in my face. The whole thing is not what you would call fun, but if feels so nice and clean afterwards. Sometimes, even though you have had no pain or symptoms they find something that needs to be addressed before it gets worse. Sitting in the chair I wondered if I do this with my heart. I do it with my teeth that although are very important, matters of the heart have an even greater impact on my life. The heart affects everything, in every way, in every day. Yet, how often do we take our hearts for a routine check-up or even allow them to be opened up and looked at when we do have signs and symptoms. It’s not as clear as a toothache to know we are overdue for a visit. It’s not as quick as a 30 minute routine cleaning, but it’s affects stretch farther and wider than any dentist visit. Bitterness, anger, frustration, discouragement, depression...you’re overdue for some time alone, being still and letting the issues of your heart surface. If left unattended they will only continue to grow and cause havoc just like an unaddressed cavity would. You have to get close to get clean. It’s never what I would call fun but always worth it and always freeing.

“Search me thoroughly, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Psalm 139:23-24 Amplified

David was willing to open up. He invited the Lord to come in and do a full examination and cleaning of his heart. Not because he didn’t know how hard it would be, but because he knew how much he needed it. He knew how much he needed the Lord in order to walk in the freedom and the life that God had called him to. Now God already knows. It’s not a surprise to Him when we invite Him into the places in our hearts, when we open up our lives. Yet, when we allow Him to enter in He allows us to see what is already there and then invites us to follow Him out of the junk to the way everlasting. It probably won’t be as quick as a visit to the dentist but the rewards will be greater, fuller and higher. Stop and invite Him in before the pain forces you to. It’s never too late even if the pain has settled in and is coming out. Let Him come in and He will do a thorough work to lead you to life, life and more life.