Feeling Lost in a Familiar Place

Have you ever driven on auto-pilot? On a route you've taken so many times, you simply tune out the scenery around you? It's so familiar, there is no need to pay attention. Then for one reason or another you become aware again. You see the same sights that have always been there but for a moment you have no idea where you are. It's as if you've never seen them before. You wonder if somehow you got off course, but then you see the street signs or another landmark and they assure you that you are still on the right road. But for that one drawn out moment, you felt lost in a familiar place.

We can feel that way in our lives too. Going along day after day and it doesn't seem like the scenery changes all that much. Get up, go to work, come home or whatever your routine may be. We are in danger of tuning out. Tuning out others, tuning out our own thoughts and emotions, the voice of God, until something awakens us. We may look around and feel like we have no idea where we are, that perhaps somehow we got off course. Then just ahead we see the signs that remind us we are still in God's hands and He has everything under his control.

This week I have been feeling lost in such a familiar place. Nothing on the outside has changed for such a long time I feel like I have covered every square inch of the map mutliple times. A simple question caused me to look up. It made me dizzy and disoriented, not quite sure of my bearings or how I got here. But as always God is faithful and He continues to meet me in this place. Continues to point to the signs that reveal His truth to me to give me direction for the next leg of the journey and assure me that I have not left His path.

There are times I get frustrated that the scenery isn't changing. I think I should be in another state by now instead of driving back and forth along this two-lane country road on my own. And contentment starts to blur with lack of joy and before I know it, I am simply feeding off the scraps of other people's happiness and it only serves to remind me of my own hunger. I must learn to trust for my own manna.

I want to travel well and appreciate all the people and opportunities God gives. Perhaps what was barren for years, tomorrow will have bloomed. In order to see it, I have to be looking. Looking is just hope.

Hanging

Onto

Peace

Everyday

Are you looking or are you lost?

Look for the sign of hope and you'll know right where you are.