Monday of the Third Week of Advent
Our heart never turned back,
nor did our footsteps stray from your path. Psalm 44:18
I recognize the sound a second before my brain identifies it: an engine revving as tires spin on ice. A school bus has foolishly attempted to maneuver the icy incline of the narrow street across from my house. I watch out my window as the driver stubbornly spins his wheels. It won’t work. He will need to make another choice. He will need to choose another way.
The bus is simply driving its regular route. But the detritus of this past weekend’s storm still makes some streets barely passable. Sometimes conditions require us to choose a path other than what is familiar to us.
The bus finally escapes from its dilemma by carefully backing down the street. And once it does, it is able to move freely. Many other routes are certainly available for it to get to where it is going this morning.
And that is the key. God’s ways are many and diverse. When I spin my tires in my spiritual life, perhaps I need to try a different direction. Rather than stubbornly persisting with the path I have chosen, I can open my heart again to God—and infinite possibility. All backing down does, is to provide me with more options.
Copyright Anne E. Kitch 2013
