One of my favorite weekend pastimes is riding the dirt roads. No destination. Now time limit. Just exploring and taking in the scenery. It’s been a long while since I have taken the time to just ride, but David and I decided to load up the boys and hit the dirt roads. We grabbed a snack at the store and the boys took turns deciding whether we turned left or right. It was relaxing soaking in the scenery of rural Madison County without worrying about the regular time constraints and demands of life.

            Somehow, we ended up on a dirt road neither of us had ever been down. There is something special about discovering a new road. I found myself slowing down so I could pay extra attention to the landmarks and scenery, watching the road closer as I was unfamiliar with washouts and ditches, and excited to know that we had a new road to add to our dirt road driving in the future.

But what was even cooler was seeing where we came out. At first, the road seemed to never end. We watched the compass on my car switch from North to Northeast to East as the road wiggled and twisted. We started seeing roads that pulled off, but none of them were familiar. Finally, we recognized a road name. Then another and another. The light bulb came on and we started seeing how all of the dirt roads were connected. Eventually, we hit a very familiar paved road and everything came together.

            Often, we come to new roads in life. We aren’t sure how we got there, but suddenly here we are, face to face with a new direction. I feel like the last four months of my life have been spent blindly cruising down a new road. Just like we did today, I find myself slowing down and soaking up every ounce of the blessing that we are experiencing. There is so much of life’s scenery that I have unintentionally taken for granted and I don’t want to miss any of it. And then, there are many new obstacles that I need to pay attention to: doctor’s visits, unexpected bursts of emotions, weariness, added responsibilities, and new challenges. Being ready and paying attention to these has been so important. But what has been really neat is seeing where this new road is heading and knowing that somewhere it will connect to something familiar and everything will become interconnected and seamless like all of the other roads we have been down in the past. Somehow God is going to weave this new road into our journey and use it to move us forward and hopefully help others find their way when nothing seems familiar.

            Don’t be scared to drive down that new road. Head that way and soak it all in. Pay attention. Get excited. We just never know what God has in store and where we will end up. Don’t waste the drive.