In a Fog

These last few Illinois winters have been fairly interesting. We have had everything from snow to ice, to fog, power outages, and even a mild earthquake. As always, I am so ready for the first hint of Spring to come my way!
Awhile back, I was driving to work. It was snowing but the roads were fairly clear and I was cruising along at a fair speed when all of a sudden I drove into this thick blanket of fog. I couldn’t even see the car in front of me. It was crazy and it really slowed me down. (For those of you who know me, you know that I probably needed slowing down!)

Well the fog got me to thinking about life and how sometimes it, too , can get a little foggy. Sometimes you are cruising along down life’s highway, going at a decent speed, heading for your destination when all of a sudden you are in the midst of a deep fog. 

Ever been there? Maybe one of your kids gets really sick. Maybe it is the death of a loved one, or terminal illness of a parent. Maybe you didn’t get that job promotion you were expecting. Maybe a sure thing turned out to be a not so sure thing. Whatever it is for you, I think it is safe to say we have all been there. So what do we do to navigate through this fog and why is it happening?
Well, just as when you are driving in a fog, when life gets foggy, there are some things you can do. First, slow down! Going too fast can cause you to crash into things you never even saw coming. In life this means to “be still and know that He is God” (Psalm 46:10) 

Next, turn the headlights on low beam…high beam are too strong and will cause the light to reflect back at you rather than shine on your path. In life this means trusting in God to give you just what you need for the next moment, don’t try to look too far ahead because it will only make things in front of you harder to see. (“Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” Psalm 119:105)

The third thing you can do is concentrate on keeping between the lines. Just as highways have lines painted to help guide you on your path so too life has “lines” to guide you on where to go. As we were just reminded from Psalm 119, God’s word is one of those guidelines. In Genesis 12, God tells Abraham to leave his home land. He does not tell him where he is going but promises that he “will show you” (Gen. 12:1) Trust that the God of Abraham is the same God we serve and He will show you where He wants you to go also.
 

A fourth thing to keep in mind while navigating fog is, to focus on the car in front of you. The taillights of another car will help you to know what is coming up in the road ahead. In life, having a mentor, someone ahead of you on the journey, can help you to navigate those tricky twists and turns in the road. Ecclesiastes 2:1 reminds us that indeed, “Two are better than one.”
 

A final thing to help is to remember the path. When I was driving in the fog to work, I focused on what I already knew about the road. I knew there was a stop sign shortly after the railroad tracks, I knew that there was a sharp curve just before the tracks. Things like this help you mark out the path you cannot clearly see. So to, when struggling through a foggy path in life, you can remember back to the times that God was faithful to you. Times when you were unsure of what was going to happen, but you can look back now with great joy at how the situation played out. When you get in a spot where you can’t quite see your way out, instead try to remember the times when God showed you the path. Remember where your headed, (Heaven someday~Halleluia!) and then just start moving forward slowly!
 

Sometimes we hit a fog and we go into a panic. Hopefully the next time this happens you will slow down, dim the lights, concentrate on the lines, focus on those in front of you, and remember the path you are traveling.