Leading, following,and being lost.

I went on a walk. Just thirty minutes for my heart health. I pumped my arms and walked briskly, panting slightly. I wrote an amazing essay in my head, looked up and realized I was completely... confused by my surroundings, unsure of my location, lost.  Again.

I was making great time, I just had no idea where I was heading.  I came to one of these and left the path, crossed the dry creek and had no idea where I was. So I kept going.

But it made me think- this is how we sometimes lead people when they are hurt, grieving, newly widowed.  We hustle along the path and take the shortcuts that may or may not help.   After all I know this path.....

 
  I can show you the rocks that are exposed in the floods so you don't slip when the waters rush by.

 I can point out the flowers and positives along the way. 

 I can identify this innocuous leafy spurge  which looks benign but threatens  many western grazing grounds.  I can also steer you away from the noxious weeds of self-pity and worry that threaten to consume your time and energy.  

"Look instead to the bright, the beautiful, the blooms amid the thistle," I instruct.

But what if my job is not to point the way?  

To steer, to warn, to protect.....  

What if my job is to walk along side and trust YOU to find YOUR way? 

 When the Psalms say, "He leads me besides still waters," the word lead means "to lead to a watering  station and cause to rest there."  I can't cause any one to rest-  I can't cause anything.  I can merely  walk along side and trust that the Shepard is providing still waters, causing rest, leading to life.
 Leading both of us.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, 

 leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul,

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for HIS name's sake. 

Psalm 23:2-3

There is no glory gained when I the leader. We can all walk with the grieving but it's not for our sake, it's for theirs.  We must allow them experience firsthand the wonder of the good Shepherd who protects His sheep, who encloses them at night and calls them out to fresh pastures each new morning.  He is the one who points out the safe passages, the noxious weeds, even the beauty. He is the one calling their hearts to trust and rest, to be at peace in the midst of the storm. 

Yes, sometimes we are be his hands and feet. But sometimes we're just as lost and wandering as well-  also needing a shepherd, all in this together.