do you need direction?

I should know better than to trust my GPS. In my job as a social worker, I visit patients in their homes, which means I drive a lot. One day as I was looking for a house, in the midst of twists and turns onto various streets, my GPS stopped talking. She was confused! That was when I realized I can’t always trust my GPS.

So I was already on guard about trusting it, when my “cigarette lighter” stopped working (shouldn’t we change the name of that?). I use it every day to charge my phone as well as my GPS. Since I didn’t want to spend money to get the cigarette lighter fixed, I decided to revert back to the “old days.” A map. (wow — did we really use those only a few years ago?) So my map and I set out to conquer the city. Except it wasn’t working very well. The tiny print and my “older” eyes didn’t mesh. I was getting a headache. And worse — mad. By the time I got to the first patient’s house, I was the one needing a social worker!

When I got home, I informed my husband that we were going to have to get my cigarette lighter fixed. At the prospect of shelling out cash, creativity took hold of him. He called a friend to ask for advice. Well what do you know? His friend said there should be another cigarette lighter in the trunk area of my van. It was there! (How would someone even find it if they wanted to light up?) What a blessing! My wonderful GPS was back! The only problem was that the cord wouldn’t reach to the front of the van. The GPS was relegated to the trunk.

“No problem,” I told my husband. “My friend is back, and that’s all I care about.”

So the next morning I went to the back of my van, lifted up the door to the trunk, and typed in the address where I was headed. But after a few blocks, I realized I could only hear it if I turned the radio OFF and listened very carefully. Focus. I had to have it, or I would never get where I was going.

Enter the Holy Spirit. Actually, he had been there the whole time, but I’m known to get distracted and forget that. The situation with my GPS reminded me of listening to the Holy Spirit. Or not. Noise, clutter in my mind, and changing scenery can mute his voice. I need to seek him to be able to go where he wants me to. That involves turning off distractions around me, focusing, and really listening for his still, small voice. Unlike my GPS, God will always lead me where I need to go.

“Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!” (I Chronicles 16:11)