Small is the Gate and Narrow is the Way

I thought it would be fun to bring my camera along to show you where I hike several times a week, little did I know God would give me a blog post during my hike last week. I was thinking about the trail and a post I did a while ago. Sometimes God allows visitors to flit in and out of our life. We don't know where they come from or how long they will stay. I am continually blessed by the people in my life. It has been amazing to see who God uses at a specific time to call me, send a card, reach out, I am blessed and blessed and blessed again.

Sometimes God leaves decisions up to us, once you cross this bridge you have to decide whether to go to the left or to the right. Sometimes crossing the bridge seems like the hard part but there are times when making the decision after the seemingly hard part is even more difficult.

Sometimes God offers you a resting spot. Sometimes you have no choice but to sit and rest, your body is tired, your mind is foggy, your spirit is weak. Other times you sit by choice. To just enjoy the beauty that is around you and to thank God for his gifts.

Sometimes there are giant rocks in our way. At first glance they detours are annoying and aggravating. Sometimes we even show our sinful nature and try to move the rocks out of the way. Sometimes God puts them there to see if we will move them out of our way. But one peek on the other side of this rock showed me that a huge drop off that would have hurt me very badly had I not heeded the warning. Our lives are like that, only God knows what is on the other side of our rock. Sometimes it's danger, other times it's a beautiful thing that needed time to rest and grow before it was okay to pass this rock.

God doesn't always make our way smooth and straight. But He does always offer guidance and a hedge of protection. It is okay to pass through ways that seems unsteady and rocky, but He will always be there.

It is often hard to stand on a bridge and see our friends and family going through rough times where the only way through is one step at a time over an unsure and even frightening river of emotions and trials.

While on the other side of this same bridge you see other friends and family walking through smooth, calm waters. It is very hard not to be covetous of these people. But these same people may have just been upstream in the rough waters, we often don't know what people are going through and even when we observe it we are not in the water with them.

Life truly is an adventure, isn't it? And even though only God knows the future, we can know the destination and we know, without ever laying eyes on it, that a future with Him as our savior is full of wonder and beauty. I look around at where I hike and I can't imagine anything more glorious and yet in my heart I know it is infinitely more so. He is such a wonderful Creator and Father. Praise Him.