Many of us have abandoned atlases and have become dependent on our phones or other GPS devices to get us to where we need to go. They tell us exactly when to turn and how long it will take us to get there. But many times, I go my own way. The GPS says, “re-routing,” and takes some time to calculate the new way to get me to where I need to go.
The Spirit guides our lives, regularly re-routing us, though not like a GPS. There is no exact path that God lays out for us at our birth. God doesn’t plan out our lives with the precision of exact turns, or jobs, or addresses, or relationships (and especially not designated stops for suffering). God’s great desire is that we love God, love ourselves, love our neighbors and love this world. God longs for us to use the gifts we’ve been given to serve a greater purpose, to find meaning and joy. But when we get off course, the Spirit does re-route us, moving us toward the things that bring us into deeper love of God and away from the stuff that harms us.
This message is excerpted from the Bible study “The gift of the Spirit: A divine wild goose chase” by Sara Olson-Smith in the November/December 2021 Gather magazine.
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