The Hole in the Road

“Make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.” Hebrews 12:13

How could I have not seen the hole in the road? I was walking along with my husband, taking in all the beauty of the mountain scenery around us. Campsites dotted the area, and the smell of campfires was intoxicating. The breezes were cool, and yellow began to peek out from deep inside the leafy trees. Pines sighed the rushing wind sound I love so much. Take a deep breath…

…And fall down. Splat on the road. Roll a little bit. My cell phone came out of my jacket pocket and bounced five feet away. A man at a nearby campsite, who watched me sprawl in all my glory, came running to help. My husband was already helping me up, and we assured the man I was fine. I limped away, wondering if my hip was broken, and if my knee was bleeding like my hands were. (The cell phone survived.)

I began to berate myself. Now we couldnʼt take that walk around the lake. Now the day was cut short because I just wanted to go home. Now I was in pain.

I just wasnʼt paying attention. Thatʼs all there was to it. Weʼve all done it. Weʼve all seen our kids do it. Thatʼs how accidents happen. Someone isnʼt paying attention.

Letʼs apply this to our spiritual selves. Not paying attention to the road, to the hazards, can be, well, hazardous to our spirit. The pot holes of life. The little temptations that cause us to look away for a few moments from where our eyes should be, or distract us from thinking the right, pure, true thoughts we should think. The little indiscretions that cost us our integrity. The teensiest, tiniest, littlest, puny lie in the whole world that keeps others from ever believing us again. The one stray word we speak, the little story we repeat, that costs us a relationship.

Do these seem like minor things to you? These are what trip us up in our walk. This “not paying attention” keeps us from seeing spiritual hazards for what they truly are—attempts by the enemy of our soul to take us off the path our heavenly Father has firmly set us on. We may be only a little hurt when we fall, or we may be rushed to the hospital with sirens blaring. Either way, the fall really was avoidable.

Keep your eyes on Jesus. He knows the way of completing this journey in good spiritual health, with our Christian body parts intact and functioning well, not broken and hobbling along trying to mend and heal what we have plainly done to ourselves because we werenʼt paying attention.

Jesus, You know the way I should go. Light my path, help me to watch You for the sure footing, and give me the strength to keep going right past the distractions. In Jesusʼ Name, Amen.