Detours

I was thinking the other day about trail riding on horses and how sometimes on the trail you have to take detours, and how sometimes that happens to us in our lives too. There are a lot of reasons to take a detour out on the trail. At times you come across a fallen tree that your horse can’t get over, or an ice patch your horse can’t walk over and you need to go around (or if you’re my dad, then you get tired of the mundane trail and take detours just for the heck of it) off the beaten path. Not taking these detours can be dangerous - if a horse breaks its leg, generally it has to be put down because horses can’t survive on just three legs very easily. When you come across obstacles like one of these, it’s usually best to just take a short detour through the woods until the trail is safe again. Other times, you might know of some beautiful clearing or old ruined building that’s not on the regular path. At times like these, a detour is necessary.

The interesting thing about this is the fact that each horse reacts differently in different circumstances. My dad’s mule, Princess, couldn’t care less where she is or where she’s going. She trusts my dad and she’s sure of his leadership. My pony, TJ, takes a little more coaxing despite his trust in me, because he’s been through a lot more. He gets super anxious about detours. He huffs and puffs and dances around a little, and it takes forever to get him to move. I’m gentle, because he’s damaged and he has a very delicate trust in me. All the while, he’s nervous and uncomfortable, flaring his nostrils and tensing his muscles. I can see the path he wants to be on, but I can also see the danger on that path. It may be more difficult for TJ to trudge through the undergrowth and it might take longer to get where we’re going, but, in the long run, we’re better off for not having stayed where he wanted to be; where he was comfortable and free to subconsciously wander down the marked path. I know another pony that, when he’s allowed to do this, will literally take a nap with you on his back if he thinks he knows where he’s going.

God knows our plans and even so, sometimes He throws a wrench in our plans anyway. This can be kind of aggravating. Like those times we’ve worked super hard to get that promotion and we end up getting laid off instead, or those instances when you’ve been saving up for a new car and then you break your leg and have to use that money to pay your medical bills. It’s really easy to get frustrated in those moments, but those are the moments that God reminds us that He does His best work in our lives through our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

When He sends us down that other path, it’s for our benefit and He lights up our way (Psalm 119:105), so detours are never as scary as we think they’re going to be.

In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus commands us to “Enter through the narrow gate...small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”  In that same passage, He talks about the wide, beaten path that leads to our own demise. We’re not called to walk the easy path that lets us go through life half asleep. In fact, we’re often called to walk a path that puts us on edge. Human nature and everything in our society today screams at us to take the easy route, to close our eyes and just relax, to go where the path takes us, to sit back and enjoy the ride. Jesus warned us that our trail is narrow and scary, but Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us that when we trust Him and submit to His guidance then He will show us the paths we should be on.

It is impossible to follow Christ if we’re following the crowd and when the plans we make for our lives seem to fall apart and God pulls us in a scary new direction, we can be sure that He sees something that we can’t in the path ahead. We may squirm and whine and throw a fit like TJ, but like TJ we’re broken and the One who holds our reins is strong and gentle with us all at once. Psalm 23 makes it clear that even when our path doesn’t seem safe and we seem to be more in danger than we were before, God never leaves us on our own, but He guides us to a safe place of peace and beauty. In each circumstance, we find that where we end up is so much better than the dangerous path we marked for ourselves.