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.