Are You Exhausted from Plowing Your Own Path?

Yesterday (Super Bowl Sunday), we were traveling the roads of east Michigan and wondering how much snow we were truly going to get.  At first we heard 1-3 inches and then 6-9.  I don’t think anyone but God himself really knew for sure how much we would receive by the end of the Superbowl Day Snowstorm.  On our way home and the winds whipped across the roads from the open fields we started to hear a strange clunking on the van.  Thinking there was just a large buildup of snow around the tires we kept driving, as we were only about 10 minutes from home.  When the clunking got unusually loud, Brian knew at that moment it must be a flat tire.  My wise words of wisdom of one who knows nothing about cars were, “can we just limp it home because we are so close because it’s almost kickoff time for the Super Bowl?”  Brian told me we’d have to pull over and change it then and there or we’d ruin the rim.  I felt deflated.  (Yes, I kind of had to use that word as the controversy around one of the teams playing in the Superbowl had to do with deflated balls).  The awesome man that he is, my husband stood on the side of the road, wind chills below zero and snow flying every which way, changing our shredded tire.  One person stopped when he was almost finished and asked if we needed help.  We finally made it home on our little donut of a tire and parked in our drive, only to miss half of the first quarter of the football game.

The snow continued to fall throughout the night and we awoke to a winter wonderland.  It was so beautiful.  The sunshine hit the new fallen snow in such a way that heightened its beauty.  I had forgotten, after living in warm, sunny Mexico for several years, how gorgeous this part of God’s creation can be.  Then I remembered that the dog had to go out and the van had to be taken into Wal-Mart for a new tire.  There was 11 inches of snow that had fallen and drifts up to 6 feet around the house  (including my dogs bathroom area).  I had to go out in it and literally begin digging out.  I was deflated once again.  Couldn’t I just sit by my picture window wrapped in my blanket with my cup of coffee just enjoying the view?  Not today, not today!  So out I went.

As I dug a path to the dog pen and to the doors of the van, my sweet neighbor came out on her deck and yelled over that she would have the guys that plow her driveway come over and plow ours.  As I hung over the shovel, out of breath, I was so very thankful for her offer. Someone that was going to plow the path for me.  Thank you Lord.  I parked my van in the front of my house and dug another path from the road to my front door.  I finished out by digging a path for the tires of my van just to get out of the drive. How could there be so much snow?  So. Much. Snow.  I was exhausted digging a path for myself to get from one place to the next. 

Do you ever get exhausted, even deflated trying to plow your own way in this life?  Paths are necessary, but we were not meant to make them on our own.  It reminded me of these two verses from Proverbs.  The first one from Proverbs 16:9 that says, A person plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.  And also Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.  I’ll be honest, when my neighbor told me that I was going to have a helper today with my snow paths, I was pretty excited.  The thought of doing it on my own was overwhelming.  In the same way, if I daily try to make my own way I am going to get tired and discouraged.  If I allow God to lead the direction and plow the path ahead, all I need to do is be obedient and follow him.  I sure like this idea best—no sore muscles!