Accepting God’s Paths for Life

Life is a series of journeys. For me, each one is about accepting the path God has me on. The best outcomes are about discerning and staying on God’s path.

I write, strange as it might seem, because I must write. I feel God compels me to write the ideas he gives me. The more I write, the more God furnishes my mind in creativity. Writing is a key purpose-path God has me on. I don’t know where it’ll lead but I’m trying to be obedient. I just love to write.

Getting out on my bike is often the way God talks to me. I feel balanced after a good ride. Exercise is a good release for me. It helps me regain my perspective. For more than half my life I have worked out and loved to exercise. I enjoy pushing my body and feeling fatigued in my muscles. That is my recreational path.

There is also my vocational path. I’ve usually loved my work. Even though I’ve trained to become a counsellor, I’m a registered safety professional, and have been a youth worker and metalworking tradesman. I’m in a transition time at present; God is reminding me to be patient with this path he has me on. God wants me to be a pastor. It’s my deep wish.

Then there is my family path. Family is the centre of my world. I love being a father, a husband, a son, and a brother. But family is where I have failed most and learned the most. Loving my wife and children is my number one labour of love in this world. I thank God for them. The family path God has provided me makes the rest of my life easier.

Combining all my paths is my faith path. We live on the golden cusp of time. There is no time like the present, but the present only has its meaning from my past, and for thought of my future. Accepting the path God has me on is about accepting my life—all of it, including the ugly bits. Faith helps me live intentionally for eternity.

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So that is my life—a series of paths that God has me on. These paths all work together in the formation of me. I am so grateful for my life.

Accepting the paths God has us on is both gratitude and wisdom. There is no use and no benefit to anyone in not accepting God’s path. Acceptance is a divine gift where things cannot be shifted, as is courage when things might be changed.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.