Direction Discernment
I reject the concept of the GPS. As cool as they are to drive with and no matter how interesting you can set the automated voices to be, I reject them on principle alone. I like the principle of using a map, of having directions to where you are going. This is because I like knowing where I am heading.
However knowing one’s direction (or let’s be honest and personal here; rather knowing my life direction) is often not as clear cut as a map might allow. I have found myself returning to the city where I grew up after a year spent in another city trying to discern some semblance of life. Moreover, I am trying to discern some semblance of the Christian life, which I presently assert must look different to life as we know it (what this difference is is a discussion/blog for a later day…).
And truth be told it is confusing. Depressing. Exciting. all in one day. At my age there is talk of potential and actualization. People buy homes, get married, start families, begin careers, change majors, volunteer, travel, live simply, live extravagantly, or waste their time. And we choose between these things. We (I) make conscious decisions to live, act, work, and play a certain way. And in true economic fashion there is an opportunity cost to every decision. There is something gained and sacrificed when deciding this over that.
And this process is wearing me.
There exists then the temptation of the GPS. A voice that clearly tells you where to turn, how many miles till your next exit, and options for fast food along the way. However, I feel that this ethereal life-GPS must be rejected as well as its tangible, plastic counterpart.
But how? and why? I can clearly state that I don’t like actual GPS devices because I value a good sense of direction and orientation, but what do I exchange for the scripted GPS of life? And is the exchange worth it?
When these questions permeate my mind I find myself inclined toward a particular story. It involves a man who finds a treause in a field. He consequently sells all he has in order to possess the field and the treasure within. And I can’t help but to ask myself if I am so enraptured by the Kingdom of God that I would leave behind everything iI know, have, love, and do for the treasure that awaits.
Even if I can’t describe the contents of the treasure?
Even if I don’t know what type of life awaits me in my newfound field?
Even if the GPS can’t get me out?
Grace and Peace
