Lost?

Have you ever felt lost?  I mean, doesn’t it feel like you are in a darkened maze and you are not able to see your way out?  You extend your arm and feel with your hand and everything feels the same?  We were on a cruise a couple of years ago.  If you’ve been on a cruise, you might realize that the light for the bathroom is outside the door, rather than in the bathroom.  I have no idea why they design it this way.  Anyway, my husband and I were cruising with our two kids.  The way the room is laid out, the kids’ beds were closest to the bathroom and then there was our bed.  My husband gets up a couple of times a night to go to the bathroom.   Being kind, he opens the bathroom door and walks in, without turning on the light, so as not to awaken anyone.  Bathrooms are not huge in these cabins, and this one had a railing built all the way around the inside of it.  After taking care of business, he proceeds to try to leave the room, except he’s disoriented, not remembering exactly where the door is and the fact that this railing is the same shape as the towel bars isn’t helping.  He perserveres for a bit, and then he starts pounding on the walls, to wake someone up to get him out of there.  Of course I’m laughing, and I have to crawl over the kids’ beds, so I’m not getting there fast enough.  Somehow, the kids didn’t wake up?!

Being lost or disoriented in life is scary.  You wish for the comfort of familiar surroundings and what seemed fine yesterday can look so different today.  My Mom suffers from dementia.  I can’t imagine what that feels like.  Things she use to do, like cooking, driving etc. are foreign to her now.  These everyday tasks we take for granted only promote confusion or anger or sometimes both for everyone involved.   Can you imagine the frustration of trying to make a point and not being able to make your words line up?  Talk about a maze!!  Unfortunately there isn’t a way to pound on any walls to release her from her maze. 

Many of us are lost; we just don’t recognize it, especially if we are comparing it to the two examples above.  I don’t know about you, but I’ll admit I need a “Life GPS.”   And just so you know, there is a “Life GPS” out there, for me it is Jesus.   I don’t mean to make that the simplistic answer but I will say that I don’t believe it was God’s intent for us to walk around dazed and confused.  The thing is we have to recognize where the problem is first.  For me the problem is getting the directions from the “GPS.” Initially one has to put in the starting point and then the ending address.  In this journey of life, the address I need to put in is where I am right now.  Not too pretty a place, right at the moment, but I know with certainty that where I’m going is indescribable, I just need to know how to get there.  Do I want the shortest route; no I think I’ll pass on that one, which then means I’m opting for the scenic route.  Since I’ve chosen that route, then I guess I’ll have to go through some mazes, which are of my own doing unfortunately, and trust that when my soul feels the most lost, is when I’m being carried by God.  When I look back on the many paths I’ve followed to date, I realize that wanting my way is equivalent to listening to the “GPS person” who has to keep re-navigating for the wrong turns I’ve made and keep making.   I’m glad my “Life GPS” isn’t easily frustrated, I’ve would have given up on me a long time ago!! 

GPS = God Positioning System

Looking up! ~ Barb