Clay in the Hands

Last week, our family spent two days skiing at Wolf Creek Pass.  It was a great time!  We had good snow and good weather.  The lines were not long at the lifts and no one got hurt – a few bruises, but nothing serious.  Our time together as a family was wonderful!

We had never skied at Wolf Creek before.  Overall, we enjoyed our time there.  Our only real complaint was the lack of direction on the mountain.  The trail map was clear enough.  We could look at it and decide which lifts to take to get to the runs we wanted to ski – that was no problem.

The problem came when we made our way off the lift (which is always a major event) and began trying to translate the information from the map to what we saw in person.  The map was clear, but without markers along the trails, we never knew if we were on the right path.  In a sense, we were skiing without a clue as to where were headed.

We have skied on many other mountains and never have we experienced the lack of direction that we faced last week.  In some instances in life, having a map is enough.  If you make a wrong turn, you can simply turn around and go back.  But when you strap on a pair of skiis (or snow board in Jared’s case) and head down a mountain, one wrong turn can lead you to a point of no return where you are looking down a double black diamond slope with drop-offs and huge moguls.  Just so that you know – I have done my fair share of black diamonds but I am the guy everyone looks at from the lift and says, “Wow, that guy does not belong on that run!”

So without markers along the path, not only does the skiing experience take on more of  a challenge, it is also very frustrating.

Our spiritual lives are just like that!  We have a great trail map to help us on the journey – the Bible.  We can see where we are and where we need to go.  But where we often get frustrated or side-tracked is in our inability to see the markers along the way that help us to know we are on the right path.  Unlike my experience on the slopes last week, more often than not, the markers are there, we just choose to ignore them.  There are markers all around us every day – we just need to slow down long enough to pay attention to them.

Here three markers we can all watch for in our lives to help us along the way:

1)  Am I following the teachings of Jesus in the way I live every day?

2) Am I building relationships with other believers through involvement in a faith community or small group?

3) Am I striving to make a simple difference in at least one life each day?

There are many, many other markers, but I encourage you to think about these today.  And never forget, we also have a guide along with us – and that never hurts!