GPS

A few of you may have already seen this one, but my husband encouraged me to put this one on here for those who may not have. Be sure to check out the newest blog about perennials. It's short, but so sweet. (:

The GPS

A while back my husband decided he just had to have a GPS. Have you seen these things? They look like mini-television sets and they are used in your car to help you find your way, like an electronic map run by satellites. GPS—Global Positioning System. Well, as usual, not being as technically-minded as my husband, I didn’t see the point of having one of these. I mean, there are Mapquest and good old-fashioned paper maps, friends who can tell you landmarks over the phone—what do I want with satellites? My husband bought it anyway and then told me it would be great for my Mary Kay business because it would help me find houses I’d never been to before. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I thought. Whatever lets you get the GPS, right?

The other night I used it for the first time and I was so anxious. I couldn’t rest and put my sense of direction into the hands of this little contraption. I was only trying to make it from my home in Springfield to Chicopee, which I had done many times before, except that I didn’t know the way to this particular home. Anyway, I am driving along and like a backseat driver I am thinking that this GPS has gone mad and doesn’t know what it’s doing. It’s telling to me “take a right after 400 yards” and “turn left now” and things like that and I don’t recognize this route at all. So, eventually, I pulled over and called my husband and said, “I’m by Springfield Technical Community College. I’m nowhere near Chicopee and I just went through the bad section of town. Now I’m out here without my Mapquest directions and I have to trust this little box to tell me where to go. I really wish you hadn’t convinced me to use it. Can you see how this route might get me to Chicopee?” At first we both agreed it didn’t seem I was going the right way, but we both decided I had no choice at that moment but to keep going, so I did. To make a long story short, and to my chagrin, I reached my destination. Looking back, I saw the logic in the route I had taken.

Fast forward to just a few days ago when I decided to use the GPS again to get to West Brookfield, MA, a place I have NEVER been before in my life. I didn’t know the route at all. This time I decided I would put my trust in the GPS and just go where it told me to go. It was a long, but very peaceful ride. I didn’t have to try to hold onto a paper map, Map Quest directions (which we all know are often inaccurate or strangely worded), or call a friend, or even my husband. I just allowed my mind to rest and enjoyed the ride. And you know what, I reached my destination.

The difference in the two rides was radical and I thought about this all the way home from West Brookfield that night. (I was able to think because I wasn’t focused on finding my way home!) God revealed something to me I will never forget. He said, “It’s just like this with me.” And I thought, “What do you mean, God?” He went on to show me that God has his own GPS, or God’s Positioning System. When we are fearful that he will misguide us and we question his route every step of the way, we’ll go off to the side of the road and seek guidance from anyone who’ll give it to us. We think, “I don’t see how this is going to get me where I want to go.” We have no peace in our hearts and the stressful ride makes reaching our destination seem less than exciting and less of an accomplishment.

When we allow God to lead us and guide us to each new destination in our lives, resting securely in the knowledge that He knows where we are headed and we don’t question the route we are taking, it is a peaceful ride and our minds are freed up to be stayed upon Him. God’s Positioning System. Now that is my kind of GPS.

Love,
Malissa