The Map is There for US!

The air was so clean my nose wondered what it was, and the scenery so pristine my eyes and heart were full. We hiked around Jenny Lake to the Hidden Falls, following our fearless leader (hubby Jeff). We paused for pictures and to watch rock climbers navigate cliffs with ropes. High above, we saw tiny figures, standing on “Inspiration Point.” Just show my man a higher destination, and he can’t help pursue the heights. I admitted my feet were tired and my already altitude stretched lungs were all breathed out. The trail seemed pretty obvious, so I set the family free and decided to meet them back at the car. Jeff sent Jacob back as my escort (he didn’t complain) while Jeff and Jo went on to RUN the remaining trail up to the Point.

Jacob and I took our time and loped along the miles back toward the car. Others passed us, and we passed some others. We approached a trail side log with a resting family, and I noticed they had stepped over a folded copy of the map of Jenny Lake. Being a bit of a “garbage freak,” I picked it up and decided to follow the hiker’s motto of “Leave no trace.” The family had just walked over it, probably along with others.

A while later, when we admitted how tired and thirsty we were, we came to a series of “choices.” I am very visual, so I “followed my memory” and my nose, and Jacob agreed at each juncture … until one fork in the path. We stood. We pondered. We wondered. We finally asked some passing hikers, “Which way to the parking lot?” They assured us it was “straight ahead”. We proceeded … not for long. It didn’t look right. It wasn’t right. They had misled us. I remembered the map in my pocket lost by someone, stepped over by others, ignored by many. The two of us looked at the map to find we needed to backtrack a short distance, take the other path, and walk a short way to our car. Following the crowd would’ve taken us several more miles to a distant parking lot … where we were not parked. It may’ve been someone else’s destination, but it was NOT ours.

We had been tempted to walk over it and ignore it as others did. My feet and throat said, “Find the car!” I was tempted to hurry over it. But looking at the map did so much for us:

• – saved us lost time, pain, and energy
• – corrected wrong, though sincere, advice
• – led us to the where we belonged

As August looms ever close at the end of this week, my feet and throat say, “School is coming!” My daughter will start high school, and I will need to keep the map ever before her. In the lives of the people we work with, they face choices along the path, and we need to turn to the map and be steered according to the truth, not just “following our faulty nose.” Life is all about decisions, and I’m so glad God puts a map in our pathway we can pick up and use, so we go where He intends.

Psalm 119:105 tells us “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

Look at what Proverbs says HERE about staying on the straight path. Ignoring the map would’ve come with a great cost, but I have to think that God, in His kindness, may’ve put that map of Jenny Lake on the trail just for us that day!