Finding my way

Thursday in the Third Week of Lent

Teach me your way, O Lord, 

And I will walk in your truth.

Psalm 86:11

The mile-long trail, wending its way through a pine forest, deposits me at a beautiful lake. When it is time to turn back, I decide to take a different way, having noticed other paths branching off along my walk.

It is soon clear that my sense of direction is not on point and that the trails are more numerous and complicated than they had seemed on the map I glanced at before I began my walk. The map I didn’t think to bring with me. 

I am not truly lost. I am still on a trail. But choosing to take another way home in unfamiliar territory has disoriented me. I need help. I check the GPS on my phone and find the best path. The return trip will take longer than I would like, but there are no shortcuts from here.

In my Lenten journey too, I can make things more complicated than they need to be and become perplexed and bewildered. The remedy is to stop, take a deep breath, and seek help. To firmly ground myself in God’s truth. To reorient myself toward the One who saves.