Do you have a pretty good idea what all you are going to do today? Even if it doesn’t go exactly as planned, we usually have a fairly good idea of how the day will go. In reality, we have seemingly limitless choices of things we could do or where we could go each day. If you got in a vehicle and drove for five hours, there are thousands of different destinations, but more often than not, you end up at the same one, your own driveway. One hundred years ago, most children ended up working the same job their parents did, and now many parents tell their kids ‘you can do anything you want’, which is not entirely true, but at least gives them more options. There are many kids that want to be an astronaut when they are young, but very few who will qualify, and even fewer who will make the cut (most recently 14/18,000). Of the thousands of different paths we can take each day, we usually take the most familiar one. So, is this good or bad?
Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Psalm 25:4
Most of us are creatures of habit. We have mostly the same morning routine, eat the same thing for breakfast most days, have the same drinks each day, and mostly go through the day in the same manner we always do, with a few variations. Doing the same thing is comfortable, and predictable, and most of us like to know what to expect. Doing something different puts us outside our zone of comfort and leads to more uncertainty. Then again, with greater risk comes greater reward, or great failure. So, developing good habits is key to walking on a good path. Along those same lines, bad habits can derail us from a good path as well. We all know of stories of seemingly good people, pastors, and notable celebrities who seemed to have the ‘perfect life’ and had it all come crashing down because of some poor choices. We may know the good path, and can show others the way as well, but ultimately, each one of us must make a choice on which path to take.
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14
In an age where we are inundated with hundreds of options and distractions on our phones and the internet, television, radio and other media, we may feel lost in a sea of useless misinformation. When my life starts getting unbalanced or a bit overwhelming, I try to step back and take a break from needless distractions and go back to a path that has proven to work well. For me, that is increased prayer and time in the Word. When you have other noise and distractions coming at you from various sources, it is more difficult to hear from God than when you are alone. Try to make it a habit to leave some margin in your life so that when you are running between your obligations, you have room for opportunities to listen, or stay a few more minutes and visit with someone who may need it. May your paths lead to greater joy in living and serving as you walk with the Lord.
Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil. Proverbs 4:26-27
Yours in Christ,
Clark
