Through the maze

For the last few weeks, my morning commute to work has involved going through a maze of detours and stop signs. The entire intersection and bridge crossing over Interstate 75 near my school is being redone. Watching the progress of the workers as they have shifted traffic over the last 8-9 months for this huge project has been fascinating but also often confusing.

Currently a series of stop signs have been set up that at first seemed to make no sense. At each juncture the drivers have to stop, look and wait their turn. Add into the mix the big trucks that are coming in and out of the truck stop nearby and you have a potentially dangerous situation.

On a recent dark morning as I was threading my way through the maze, I thought about what a disaster it would be if someone came barreling through without regards to the stop signs. The key to getting safely through is for each driver to take his or her time. Patience is required!

Often I am not patient in life – I run through willy-nilly without taking the time to see the warning signs along the way. I want to jump ahead and go with my emotions, when God is telling me to calm down, pray about the situation, and let Him work it out. Recently I didn’t listen to Him trying to tell me to wait on confronting someone and the result was I got my head chewed off and the situation was worse. I’m continually learning that I need to listen to the nudging of the Holy Spirit instead of the angry voices in my head.

“Wait on the Lord”. This is hard for most of us in a time when we want instant answers and instant resolutions to our problems. But sometimes situations in life do not have an easy fix and we have to learn to live with that. People don’t always change, health conditions don’t always improve, jobs don’t always get easier. But if we continually keep giving our hurts and concerns to the Lord, He will get us through. Time and again I’ve seen problems in my life resolved when I let God take control, not me.

Sometimes detour signs come up and force us to slow down. We can’t always see what is on the other side but we have to trust that there is a plan and that we will get through. And I’m learning that most of the time the things I worry about never come to pass. God really does love me and is taking care of me, even if I don’t always see it.

So each morning is an object lesson for me as I carefully wind through the construction site. I say a prayer at each stop sign that I will listen to the Holy Spirit’s voice that day, strengthening me and giving me the wisdom I need.