When I accepted this February blogging challenge, it was mainly to jumpstart my stalled blogsite. I decided a bit late, too: as in, January 29th!

 So I had no theme in mind, like the last series’ “Found Wisdom” or the previous collage-a-day. I figured I’d write various posts as I normally do, meaning each post might not relate much to the others.

That approach presented this problem: What title could I give the “series,” so I could list it on the community linkup page? And in which offered category? I needed to call it something!

How to name such a trackless approach?

 

The words “ramble,” “wander,” and “meander” came to mind.

I liked sound and “feel” of “meander.” So I looked it up in Webster:

meander  1: to follow a winding or intricate course 2: to wander aimlessly or casually without urgent destination : RAMBLE : syn see WANDER

I definitedly prefer that first definition to the second! I hope my February offerings won’t be aimless, without useful destination. I’ve been trusting God to steer me along in some kind of learning curve pathway, and bring me by trail’s end to some greater wisdom or understanding than I had before I started…

So in the spirit of definition #1, I’m calling this series…

 “28 Days of Meandering Forward”

I know that seems an oxymoron. How “forward” can you meander? Meander implies veering to right and left, sometimes perhaps without even moving forward one yard! A meander might even make loops that sometimes face the opposite direction of “forward”!

But “definition 1” implies my convoluted trail, though lackadasical-looking, still may lead right where it ought, right where God wants me to arrive.

Key word in it is “follow.” “Definition 2” doesn’t seem to follow anything, but just let feet land wherever, as the traveler gazes at sky and birdies.

I can meander with good purpose if I follow, if my heart follows, the right thing.

I wouldn’t be the first person to do it…

Abraham went out from Ur of the Chaldees with no idea where he was headed! But he knew Who he was following, and that made all the difference. He stalled for some time, here and there (we’re not told why), and sometimes seemed way off track, but his focus always reverted back to Him with Whom he’d become an intimate friend and follower.

Joseph had a dream he likely wanted to follow; but he didn’t even get to decide his own twists and turns; treacherous brothers, horrible slave dealers,  then oppressive overlords, decided for him. They seemed to determine his path. Yet after long years of confusion and Joseph sometimes moving nowhere but around in prison confines, he ended up right where God had intended him all along, at the sudden fulfillment of that now long-previous dream!

Moses just plain ran for his life, and because of his own wrongdoing! Then he “wasted” forty years just wandering (meandering?) on the hills and valleys of exile, following nothing more than green pasture patches so the sheep could eat. Later, even after God grabbed his attention and sent him on a seemingly mapped-out course, he and his now-human flock literally wandered around the wilderness for forty more before they finally got to the Promised Land.

But he did get them there, didn’t he?

David spent tons of time flitting from one hiding place to another before his destination of Kingship suddenly presented itself before him. Even afterward, off he went on the run again, fleeing now from his own son! (And never mind how off course he got at one point, trumbling down that precipice into disastrous sin with Bathsheba and treachery against Uriah!)

It’s nice and pious sounding to say “I’m going to follow God, or my destiny,” but how do I know I’m not deceiving myself and really just going where fear or greediness, revenge or even foolhardy silliness is driving me?  

The only good solution I know is to 1) put the whole matter firmly in His capable hands, determining to trust Him with it, 2) pray, “Please guide my feet in the path of Your peace; bend my heart to Your will,” 3) keep in mind what He has clearly said, in His word, and 4) just pick up one booted or slippered or sneaker-shod foot and put it down ahead of the other.

Baby steps, baby steps. Starting with “One,” continuing with another “one,” then more “one after one,” till God gets me where He wants me to be—which has got to be the best destination possible.

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Q for you: Do you have a journey you need to take? Does it have a clear destination? How will you determine your course?

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For a set of links to all the other posts in this “Meandering Forward” series, go to this page, which will be updated daily as new posts appear in the blog content.