Have you ever felt like you were lost in a valley?
A dark valley thick with deep woods, so deep you cannot see what awaits you on the other side.
One tree looks like the next, each path you try leads you farther and farther away from where you think safety and comfort will appear. You feel lost, disoriented, and have no way to know where to place your focus to escape.
I have only been camping twice in my life. On one of those trips I remember, as I set out for a walk, being told if I get lost just look to the sky for the bonfire smoke above the trees and if I head that direction it will lead me back to safety.
When I am lost in the dark valleys of this hard life I catch myself frantically searching for the tall bright embers of the bonfire to lead me home. I search for God to show up in big ways so I can find the fastest route out.
But God reminds me that the way out of the darkness is not always easy, the way out is not always big and mighty, but instead sometimes it’s small and faint, merely a glimmer in the distance.
Just a flicker of light I have to constantly focus on so I do not lose sight of my way.
I get tossed into the valley and I expect God to immediately light the bonfire and I sink deeper and deeper in the darkness while searching the tree tops for it’s embers when all along God was leading my way with the small light of a candle if I just paused to see it.
