Beware of uncertain roads and little red wagons

I once did a foolish thing. Well, let me clarify, I've done lots of foolish things, but this one thing was incredibly foolish. I was a day camp director one summer many years ago. I loved to arrive very early each day. The camp was fairly deep in the woods. I loved going in early to hear the birds and just be alone with God in nature before the kids poured out of their buses for a day of fun.

Anyway, I had one of those "getting in touch with my inner child moments", or so I thought. I saw a red wagon on the side of the path. A typical kids' wagon. I saw that the path was a slow downhill through the woods. I was going downhill. I thought "Oh, if I get in the wagon I can ride downhill and get to the bottom faster and it would be fun too." Right ? WRONG. So, very wrong. But I got in the wagon anyway. It was small so I was sort of kneeling in it. I started going down the hill very gently and it was fun. I went over small stones and little lumps. I thought to myself "what a great idea!" About a second and a half later, things started going very wrong and I knew I was on a very uncertain and dangerous road!

The wagon seemed to pick up speed. The gullies and stones in the road became bigger and the path became more windy. Within no time, I was totally out of control and flying down the hill. It was all I could do to stay inside the wagon. I had no braking system. My heart filled with panic and what once was a great idea suddenly became very foolish and dangerous.

And then it happened....I hit something on the path and the wagon went one way and I went the other. I skidded down the path on my knees and stomach, rolled over and slammed into a small tree. Suddenly all was quiet. It was almost like one of those cartoons with the little stars and tweety birds dancing around my head.

After a moment of silence, I realized I was still alive. I moaned and groaned. Here I was an adult, a very foolish and stupid adult, laying in the middle of the woods, bloodied and sore. I had a bandana with me ( an essential in the woods for any girl scout ), and tied up my knee which was dripping very badly with blood.

How is this a metaphor for the spiritual life? We are all on a spiritual path somewhere in God's world. But sometimes we take things into our own hands. Instead of taking it slow, trusting, and walking humbly with our God, we think we can get to the end of the path quicker and more efficiently. Sure, we may get there, if we don't crash and burn like I did, but we will miss things along the way. If I had walked down that path I would have seen different birds and plants and heard the little creatures in the woods. I would have noticed the beauty of the details God made in nature. Instead I was in a hurry and thought I had a better idea.

In a world where things often go fast, we have trouble going slow. We want efficiency and quick results. In doing so we can miss so much along the way. And in going fast, we overlook things that God might be trying to show us.

To this day, I have had an aversion to little red wagons, but I still love to wander down wooded paths and uncertain roads. The difference is that since then, I learned to hold onto Jesus instead of the handle of a wagon.