Trail Markers

Trails through the mountains are often wide, well marked and well traveled. However sometimes, in order to visit the most splendid locations we find ourselves off the wide trail, alone deep in the remote wilderness where the trail is not always easy to discern. Often in a mountain trail race tiny flags are tied to a branch every few miles to show the way or to mark a fork in the trail. Near the summit of the high mountains where no vegetation exists, cairns are constructed using stacks of rocks to mark the way. Occasionally the cairns are small, maybe only two small rocks stacked in a strategic location. No matter how they appear, the trail markers instill confidence in the hiker or runner that he or she is on the right path. The road ahead may be long and difficult but there is comfort in knowing you are on the right path.

Have you ever been hit with a sudden realization, by something so amazing it just stops you in your tracks? Something so profound that you know without a doubt that you have just seen a sign from the Almighty, one of those little trail markers to tell you that you are exactly where He intended you to be at that exact moment in your life.

I had one of those moments today, actually kind of an ordinary moment while engaged in an ordinary activity when I realized that the chances that I would have the tools, the ability, the time and the experience needed by someone at this exact moment are so infinitesimal and so precise that divine intervention is the only way to explain it.

Certainly the task at hand is important but also important is the realization at a time when I was beginning to question my choices, my decisions, in fact my entire game plan. Realization that the answer came at the exact moment I was seeking answers filled me with peace that I have not yet seen the whole plan and that it is indeed true what is written in the Psalms: Psalm 37:23 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.”. Our journey through life is often complex, involving many people, precise timing and requiring a great deal of patience. The little trail marker I saw today assures me that I am still on the right trail.

So I write this in the hopes than someone reading this who feels like everything is going wrong might understand that “His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts”. That even when it doesn’t seem like it, there is a plan and if we take time to sit quietly for a bit and meditate, we might just catch a glimpse of one of those little trail markers. The road ahead may still be a rough one, but there is comfort in being on the right path.