Paying Attention

Most people who know me know that for me, paying attention to directions is difficult. So you can imagine what it is like to train one hundred to one hundred and fifty junior high school students a lesson in paying attention.

Yet each summer for five years, my task for a Christian wilderness camp was to train young people to learn about the signs of nature and that  paying attention could save their lives. On Sunday night we would set up camp, and a group of twenty to thirty students would listen while I presented them with facts on surviving in the wilderness at night. It entailed everything from reading constellations, looking for paths, following creek beds, and the moss on the north side of trees. We would continue the discussions for about two hours until about 10:00 p.m. Then we took them on a night hike.

The camp had 98 acres with about 55 acres being wooded. I would be at the head of the group and meander through the woods. At times I would make a circle and cross over the path. This would go on for about ten minutes and the students would be led to the edge of the wooded area at the far end of the property. The students were then told to get us back to base camp. The counselors went to the back of the group and just followed wherever the group led us.

The “cool” kids would immediately take the lead and off the group would walk. After wandering in the woods for up to one or two hours and enduring the grumbling of being tired, the real leaders would emerge. It was usually a quiet camper who had remembered the training. This new leader would talk about the signs they were taught earlier and look for an opening in the woods to study the sky or find the moss on the side of trees. Once they followed the signs God had placed before them, they arrived at the base camp within fifteen minutes.

The Lord has given us Scripture and friends to teach us about love, hope, joy, and direction for living a fruitful life. Sometimes, though, we do not pay attention to His directions with signs that our lives are wandering in circles or heading into dead ends. It  is only when we get back to the basics that the Lord has taught us do we get home and find the peace we are looking for in life.

So my question toady is, why wait until your life is a mess before turning back to the Lord?   Why not pay attention to the directions God gave us in the Bible and avoid the pain of some of our mistakes?

Talking with the Lord and studying His word daily can help us stay on the path of living a fulfilling life.

Even if we do not naturally follow directions.