In my younger years, I imagined that God's purpose and leading for my life would be a kind of adventure. I would trek through the literal and metaphorical jungles of missions and have all sorts of wonderful stories to tell.
Maybe eventually, I'd be something like a trail guide - someone with lots of overseas experience, someone with a wealth of knowledge, someone who knew the ups and downs of the trail intimately and could lead others in adventures for Him.
Two years in Senegal was a quick hike compared to the life-long trek I envisioned.
While I doubted neither God's leading there nor His leading back, I wrestled deeply with my identity, my understanding of His purpose, and how I was supposed to fit into it.
My trek didn't last very long and I didn't have the vast wisdom to play trail guide to the students I now work with.
What now?
Perhaps the purpose of my life is simply to be a signpost to others trekking past: Trust God with the detours.
Perhaps West Africa was the brief, lone peak of my life and the rest will stretch out as flat as the Nebraska plains, devoid of anything extraordinary. Perhaps thirty years from now I'll still be in this modest Midwest town, working in the same office, watching the twenty-somethings and not-quite-twenty-somethings walk in our doors and out again two years later.
Some of them will go on to far-away lands, learn new languages, translate Scriptures, see churches planted - all part of the trail I'd planned to walk myself. But those plans stopped short and instead I find myself just a plain little sign on the side of the path:
He is good.
He is faithful.
It doesn't always make sense but that's okay.
He can be trusted no matter what.
There isn't even an illusion of grandeur in being a signpost, not the faintest dazzle of importance.
I always wanted to do something important - something that mattered - with my life. What if this is all I ever do?
I'm slowly learning to submit to being small and ordinary. After all, He can be trusted and His plans are good.
How important is a signpost that says "DANGER! THIN ICE!!"
ReplyDeleteHow important is the signpost in a parched desert land that points to fresh cool water ahead?
Dazzling, no. They are not meant to be of great prominence & grandeur, but they are valuable and important. Let's be signposts for Jesus that point others to Him, regardless of what and where and when. It is not about us. Thankfully.
Signposting with you, for Jesus. ~ Joyce
Loved your line - "It us not about us. Thankfully."
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