Years ago, I went with a group of ladies on a retreat, and there was a giant maze in one of the fields. As you traveled this maze with others, sometimes you might pass someone going the opposite direction as you, or at some points in the maze, you wondered if you were farther behind than when you started. It was very symbolic of our life. Sometimes feeling like you are going in the wrong direction or like you are not getting anywhere or, like that old adage of feeling like you are going three steps forward and two steps back.
Recently, I was in the Atlanta airport and had a similar experience that I know will speak to some of you. Here I was in the Atlanta airport, going from Gate A to Gate E – little did I know that it was 4,000 steps, LOL!! As I walked along, I found myself on an escalator going up. I looked in front of me on this escalator, and no one was in front of me; I looked behind me, and there was no one behind me. I looked to my left, and there were three escalators going down. Each one was packed with people going in the opposite direction than me. Again, I looked up and down the escalator, and I was on it alone. For a split second, I might have thought I was going the wrong way, but I knew that I knew I wasn’t. At that point, I felt Holy Spirit say to me, “just because you are going in a ‘different’ direction than seemingly everyone else doesn’t mean you are going in the ‘wrong’ direction – it’s just ‘different.’ You are going in the right direction for You!!”
I am not sure if I can fully relate it with the impact I heard it but it was so clear. Sometimes in life, we may appear to be going in a way that others aren’t, and just because it is “different” doesn’t necessarily mean it is “wrong”; it’s just “different”! Wowsa wowsa – that spoke volumes to me!
The funny thing is, as I walked 4,000 steps that day, in that Atlanta airport from Gate A to Gate E, where it felt like no one else was going the same way as me, when I got to my destination at the 11th hour, when it appeared that no one else was on the plane (because I got there at a different time as others) – I found out that the plane was full – with many like-minded people, going to the same destination as me! Hmmm…. Ponder that for a minute. Maybe you’re not going in the wrong direction after all? …
Selah…. (or think on that… for your life…)
SHEILA BOUCHARD 