Signs

"Postcard From God," by Dan Sibley

It's been a theme of my life, waiting for postcards -- or signs --  from God.  I have so many questions for Him! I keep hitting all these "Ys" in the road, Lord...  Not to mention bumps and unexpected obstacles.  So many times I've not been sure whether to hit the accelerator or the brake. Or just get out of the car and walk -- or just sit in the shade. Maybe get an icecream cone? 

Seems like an impossible dream, actually getting an answer.

But, here's the thing:  God does send us postcards. He really does post signs!  There's no question that our Father in Heaven steers us in the right direction when we ask Him -- and want to know the answer.  Every once in a while, we get a signal grace, an obvious message from heaven cluing us in, but usually signs from God are subtle.  You have to be watching. I mean really paying attention to catch them.  Because, seriously:  I know God's sent me postcards that I've accidentally thrown out with the junk mail.  And I'm sure I've missed many a road sign with my name on it because I was busy gabbing with the other passengers in the car.  There have even been signs bordered
 in flashing red lights that only registered after
 I drove into a ditch. 

"OH!  That's what that meant!" I say, hitting 
my forehead with the heel of my hand.  (Boy, do I do that a lot!)



I wish God would make it easier for those of us
who aren't so quick on the up-take.

When I first started dating, for instance, I needed to see one of these signs, maybe flashing right over the heads of bad dates:

Then, when Dan and I were first married, and anxious to "have it all" -- the nice house, the nice furniture, the high end job, the vacations, all the goodies of a modern couple in a modern world...  it might have helped us set our priorities, to understand that God had this pace planned for us :

When we got good at the parenthood thing, we slid into a complacency in our spiritual lives and needed to see this sign to keep our rears in gear:

But, since really working to make progress in the spiritual life is one of the hardest, most unending chores known to man, we probably needed frequent postings of strongly worded signs to keep us going:

When our oldest children turned the corner into puberty, this kind of warning would have been helpful:

And then, when we were ready to give up on the hard stuff  (Like, sometimes you just want to throw in the towel with teenagers, let me tell ya!) we could have used this sign from God:

These would have been good deterrents from mixing with poor company:

Making a bad decision?  One of these might have caught our attention:

Arguing with a spouse?

Need to make a change?

And on the long, hard stretches, I would love to see these signs from the Creator:

Do you suppose, though, if He sent us really obvious signs -- I mean right-in-our-faces signs, with "Love, God" at the bottom -- we'd pay attention and do the right thing?  I'm not sure if I would. It's easy to "miss" God's signposts because we don't really like the direction He's taking us.  His choice of roads is twistier and steeper than we like most of the time.  It's easy to feel we're not up to the challenge, especially when God's got the map and we can't see the whole route for ourselves.  Usually we're lucky just to see to the next curve in the road.  Sometimes we're too lazy to even make a start at all, or too worldly, or too full of ourselves to follow where God wants to lead.   Perhaps at times God just leaves us to our own path-finding? I don't know. But I know God's will is not always as clear as I'd like it to be. 

Still, it's all good.  There's a lot of interesting stuff to look at on the roadside -- even when I'm having to retrace my steps half the time to go back to the right turn-off.  And the companions I've had on this road are the best.  I'm not there yet, but I'm on my way.  And I love to travel.  

I'm glad you're traveling with me, blogging-world friends and family!
 (And you, too, heavenly patrons and angel friends!)