2015) MAPPED

Written on December 9, 2015.

Bundled and brave, I ventured into Tulsa’s first wintry blast for an appointment. Since it was in a part of town I don’t find myself often, I loaded the coordinates into the map on my phone and took off.

All was going well, till I came to the first point in the journey where I was uncertain of what direction to take and realized that the map was frozen. I had a few choice words for Siri (How could you? Where are you?) but chose to talk to Pappa instead. “Pappa, thank you for always being here? Would you help me get to the there I’m headed to?” And He did. Again. (Upon arrival Siri let me know I had made it 🙁 )

We had a wonderful time on that little jaunt, Pappa and I. Trusting and traveling. Returning and arriving. For along the way, I saw my need to come back to something that had been an always. Until I turned and tried to do for myself what is His great joy to do for me. Make the map.

Mapping is something He does most marvelously. Inside, He lays turns we would never take and choices we wouldn’t think to make. Every landmark is a treasure to discover and the legend is full of light. I came away from that tiny trip so very grateful and grabbed hold of letting Him lead again in the simple and the stellar.

Days later, we were on an airplane awaiting departure to our holiday in Turk and Caicos. Ice on the wings and a broken de-icer created a delay longer than our layover in Atlanta. Much longer. There would be no catching another flight to T & C that day, as there was only one.

We released His light and wrapped up in it like a blanket on a chilly day. In the midst of His shining and showing, we thanked Him for His map. For how He had already taken care of everything concerning us. We told Him we were completely satisfied with how He wanted to get us where we were going. And that we wouldn’t leave the light pouring legend for lesser.

We arrived in Atlanta to find that our plane had been impossibly held for an hour and a half. We were not late! We arrived precisely when He meant for us to. And we arrived in T & C on time!
Miracles come when we trust. And they come like a flood.

During our trip, we took an excursion to Iguana Island. While there, I was trying to take a picture with my phone. The light was so bright, so unfiltered, I couldn’t see. One of our children came by and made a comment about how my agedness and technology were working against me. Seed of her father, fruit of my womb, now hanging precariously from our vine. I’m sure that one is still trembling from the swat she received as she passed on by. I’m sure…

Despite the encounter with the “holy” child, I couldn’t be distracted from the picture. Not the one I was trying to take, but the one He was revealing. Lesser light will never get us to the wild, wonderful things He has for us. But we do look at lesser light. More. Often. And we get lost.

I thought of Adam and wondered. Was the light of the One who walked with him everyday so fiercely bright that he turned his face away and looked for something that shone, but didn’t shine? Did lessened light seem gentler, easier? For his first turning was not towards something else but away from everything. Without the Legend of Light, Adam found a different path, mapless and void of direction.

The last night of our holiday, found the third night of Hanukkah. Together, we sparked the candle that reminisces and restores us to the light of His Presence. It is the “He’s always, always there” candle.

Blessed are those who walk in the light of you presence Lord. Psalm 89:15

For they get where they are created to be.

JOURNAL JUBILEE:

Invite Pappa to reveal to you any lesser light you’ve turned to. In journaling, include the places the lesser light has led you to as it has convinced you away from Him. And then write your return and recalibration. Tell Him what you missed while you were away.

Thank Him for being the marvelous mapper. Let Him reveal to you so places you will go together!