Lost

I pride myself on my sense of direction and can usually figure out which way I need to go when I am in a new place.  Consequently, I find being "lost" and not knowing where I am, or in which direction I ought to be heading, very disturbing.  Perhaps even more disturbing for me than for those who have no sense of direction and, therefore, spend most of their time "lost".

To be lost, you have to have a point or destination in mind.  You have to know where you're going, in order to know whether or not you are "on track".

As the very wise Lorelai Gilmore says,

"You can't be lost unless you know where you're headed."

Often, I  know exactly where I am headed: I have a plan or a design or a map for my life and I panic when I feel "lost".  When things seem to fall apart around me.  When I miss milestones or goals I have set up for myself.  When I seem to take "wrong turns". 

I panic, because I know where I am headed and I don't seem to be able to get there.

But maybe I don't really know where I am headed.  Maybe my map is wrong.  Maybe my directions are faulty. 

I might think I know where I am going.  I might have mapped and planned my route out in the finest detail.  I might have clear goals in mind.  But I am not really living by my map. 

God has mapped out my life.  He knows where I am going.  He knows the turns I ought to take and the roads I ought to travel down.  He has plotted out my journey and knows whether or not I am "on track".

"I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for."

[Jeremiah 29:11, MSG]

Sometimes I might panic because I feel lost.  I might feel as though nothing is going according to plan.  I might feel completely disorientated and as though I have lost my way.

But I'm not lost.  I'm not the one with the map.

"You can't be lost unless you know where you're headed."