Good morning…
Soon after my longtime friend cut our ties, my husband and I went to a wedding in Virginia. The morning after we arrived, I woke and went on a walk down an unfamiliar path. When the road forked, I noticed a less traveled path. Robert Frost’s poem came to mind: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”
I veered to the left up a little hill, and on this road less traveled I snapped a photo.
As I walked this wooded path, it looked so much like the terrain I often hiked with my old friend. Quietly the Spirit in me rose up and texted her, sharing this photo, letting her know I was thinking of her as I walked in woods. She texted back a short, kind response, an encouraging habit we had shared for years and years.
Moments later, to my shocked surprise, the wooded path ended. It totally dead ended. Into an impassible barb wire fence, this road ended. Symbolic of friendship, the road less traveled could not be traveled.
So I turned around and went back to the fork, taking the road more traveled. I walked perplexed, pondering our painful ending. Wondering, “God, why did our friendship have to end?” With drooping eyes, I shuffled forward.
When I looked up, a new view took my breath away.
A big blue sky with white puffy clouds. Wide open land stretching for miles and miles. My view expanded into spacious, spacious, spacious.
At that very moment, I looked down and saw a heart rock. Rubbed raw in parts, yet sturdy and resilient.
I sensed God’s Spirit within me say, “I will lead you into spacious new places. It is time to walk forward into all I have planned.”
I am not kidding, a second later, a butterfly came and landed on my wrist. The peaceful creature rested on my skin, keeping me company as I took the path set before my feet.
For at least ten minutes, this tiny new friend journeyed with me. I sensed the Spirit whisper, “Sue, my dear, I am inviting you into something abundantly more.”
Interestingly, this road took me by the ruins of an old homestead. Remnants stood strong, but most of what used to be home had decayed into green grass and colorful wildflowers and soothing sunshine.
I wondered if God was teaching me that remnants of this friendship I had loved and lost would remain sturdy and strong within me forever. My grieving soul was ministered to through wide open blue skies, through heart rocks and butterflies, and through the visual promise that my inner wounds would eventually decay into growing grass, wispy wildflowers, and the soothing sun of our living Lord.
There was deep healing in this hike for me.
What healing now comes as you consider God’s spacious invitation into abundantly more?
Now as I go to Biblegateway.com to search for a Scripture to end out our post, what pre-programmed “verse of the day” greets us? “I say this because I know what I have planned for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you. I don’t plan to hurt you. I plan to give you hope and a good future” (Jeremiah 29:11, ICB).
We are guided forward by an incredibly communicative God!
…Sue…
