One beautiful autumn afternoon my husband, Bob, decided it was the perfect time to show me a treasure he had found way back in the woods while deer hunting. The area he hunted had been mostly logged over many years ago, but there were still grassy places identifiable as sections of old logging roads. Sometimes they stretched as much as a quarter-mile. Such a grassy path was our destination. The treasure there was a huge hollowed-out log that had survived the years, a remnant and hint of what had been before.
We parked where the gravel road swooped down to cross the Cascade River. Hopping the ditch and entering the woods, we looked for the deer trails Bob remembered as crossing back and forth through the area. It became obvious that the place where many deer had once roamed now held few to none.
The deer trails we were to have followed were gone. No problem – the high ridge to our left was still there; we could follow it in. So, we headed north until the ridge faded down into the flat land. We kept on. We would cross the old logging road, travel it a bit, and find our treasure!
We walked and walked. It wasn’t supposed to be that far. My gimpy leg was complaining. The afternoon was passing. No sign of that old road. We decided to turn back. The treasure was not going to be found that day. We turned 180 degrees to head south, back to the road. What we found was confusion! About 100 feet along our way back was – the old logging road! How could that be? We could not be north of the path!
Bob consulted his compass. The compass was very clear: it told us that while we were thinking, we were heading south, toward the car, we were really walking north, farther into the woods! Impossible, we said. We walked north into the woods; we turned around; therefore, we were walking south. Every impulse, every instinct said we were walking the right way, but the compass said not. What should we trust? Our minds—what we knew to be right—our very intense gut feeling—or the compass?
We decided to trust the compass. The compass led us through a swamp. The compass led us to a pond we had to detour around. The compass led us through tangles we had to fight through, unable to see more than a hundred feet ahead. We had to trust the compass.
We struggled on, and finally, we were back at the flats, back at the ridge, back at the road and our car, wet and weary but safe. A one-hour hike became a hard, three-hour journey. Had we followed what our minds told us must be the way, we would have walked deeper and deeper into wilderness. We had to trust the compass against all inclination, and the compass led us back to safety.
There are other ways to get lost in the wilderness.
Perhaps we are in a wilderness in relationships. People sometimes make promises they do not keep. When they leave us or betray us, there we are: in the wilderness. A close friend I trusted told me a lie about another. I believed and acted on the lie. My acting on that lie cost me a relationship I valued.
Perhaps we look at our country and are discouraged. People we trust to be acting for the people in a government that is to be “of the people, by the people, for the people” instead squabble, fight, more interested in power than in fixing real issues. What a wilderness!
Perhaps we are confused when we look at what culture tells us today. Disagreement about what is most important is rampant; much of it seems to be about the god we know as “self” rather than that which is truly right and good. We all live in the wilderness that is the world.
Whom, then, shall I trust?
I cannot trust in myself. I have followed wrong paths, thinking they were right. I cannot trust in the world; the world too often cannot tell right from wrong, good from evil, truth from lie. I must trust in Him Whose promises are always kept: He Who is the Way, He Who is Truth and cannot lie, He Who is Life and has the power to grant life to me.
We need not stay lost in the wilderness. We need not hasten in the wrong direction, believing that it is right. I follow Jesus, Who promised me “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life…” (John 14:6, ESV). His way may not be easy, may lead through hard places, but it will always be right.
Whom shall I trust? I trust Jesus Christ Who came and gave His life so that we may have eternal life.
Spiritual Reflections is a weekly feature discussing faith in Cook County. This week’s contributor is Irene Laine. She has lived in Grand Marais with her husband, Bob, since 1979. A former teacher at ISD 166 who retired in 2007, Irene remains active in community volunteer activities and as a member of Cornerstone Community Church.
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