Wandering in the Snow

Perhaps that title caught your eye, in light of our "snow day" last week and the possibilities of even more winter weather in the week ahead. But this isn't so much a personal story about me taking a walk in the winter wonderland that was Alabaster last week, as it is sharing something I recently came across that I found particularly intriguing, if only because it didn't turn out like I expected. 

Famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright once told of an incident that seemed insignificant at the time, but had a profound influence on the rest of his life. The winter he was nine years old, he went walking across a snow-covered field with his reserved no-nonsense uncle. As the two of them reached the far end of the field, his uncle stopped him. He pointed out his own tracks in the snow, straight and true as an arrow's flight, and then young Frank's tracks meandering all over the field.

"Notice how your tracks wander aimlessly from the fence to the cattle to the woods and back again," his uncle said. "And see how my tracks aim directly to my goal. There is an important lesson in that."

Years later the world-famous architect liked to tell how this experience had greatly contributed to his philosophy in life. "I determined right then," he'd say with a twinkle in his eye, "not to miss most things in life, as my uncle had."

If you're anything like me, I suspect you'd already jumped ahead and figured out the "moral" of Wright's story, or at least you thought you had. How we should determine our goal and go for it, not letting anything get in the way of our destination. How we should be focused, prioritized, and intentional. Purpose-driven, we might say. But that's not what he learned, and in many ways, we would all do well to learn a lesson from the lesson Wright himself discovered on that snowy day.

Sometimes in your pursuit of a goal, a dream, a vision--or even "God's will"--you miss what He is doing in you life along the way. In fact, we often get frustrated by the "detours" we are forced to take because they are keeping us from going where we think we are headed, instead of experiencing God and His blessings in the midst of our "wandering." Sometimes it's more about the journey than the destination.

He's at work, even now, in your life. Have you noticed? I'm praying that you do see His hand at work this week, wherever you wander, and that you see His fingerprints (if not footprints) all over your situation. 

I am grateful for each of you, and I look forward to seeing you this Sunday.

--Pastor Ken