Lost and Found

      I've just read an email consisting of photos of various kinds of roads captured in different seasons. Some curved through beautiful woodlands, or mountains, or even deserts, while some were straight but ribboned up and down as far as the eye could see; some were flat as pancakes. Some seemed to circle around themselves, while others hugged rocky cliffs. Some were bathed in brilliant sunlight, while others wound through deep and shaded woods. Some were smoothly paved, while others were rough and rocky. Bill and I love watching a TV show about winter roads built on arctic ice that carry trucks bearing thousands of tons of necessities to remote and otherwise inaccessible destinations: in Spring they completely disappear back into the rivers, lakes, or oceans that once froze to form them. 

      Some days I feel completely lost on some unmarked path leading I know not where. There seem to be no markers to guide me or even tell me where I am at any given moment. Sometimes, like those ice roads, the path seems to disappear beneath my feet. Sometimes, without making a decision really, I just keep putting one foot in front of the other on this unfamiliar trek. I feel lost like never before in my life, unsure if I should even keep going. And sometimes I simply stop, hoping the stillness will bring an answer to all the questions I can't even express. 

      And it always does, whether in the form of a visit, text, or phone call from a loved one, an inspirational message seen on Facebook, a sermon, or a song. The Unseen Hand reaches down and lifts me up and sets me on my way!

 "Though the fig tree does not bud

and there is no fruit on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

and the fields produce no food, 

though the flocks disappear from the pen

and there are no herds in the stalls, 

yet I will celebrate in the Lord;

I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!

The Lord is my strength;

He makes my feet like those of a deer

and enables me to walk on mountain heights!"

[Habakkuk 3:17-19 CSB]

"He must increase and I must decrease."

John 3:30

 ✝️