Out of the Fog

I drove to work this morning in the most amazing fog. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time. There are stretches of road between home and work where the fog gets to zero visibility very quickly.

As I was driving I noticed that while I was cautious, I wasn't the least bit afraid. I tried to figure out why I wasn't afraid and I made some interesting inferences, which could easily be applied to my spiritual life as well.

We have all had those foggy spiritual experiences, where we know that we should do God's will, but we can't see much of what is ahead of us, and we become scared to take those steps of faith for fear of losing our way. I hope these few tips I gained from my drive this morning can help you the next time you are in a situation like that.

When the fog gets thick it really helps if you know where you are headed. This isn't the time to try that new short cut or side road that someone told you about. Stick to the main road, because it is usually clearly marked and you have traveled it before, so you have some sense of where you should head. In you spiritual walk, when it gets foggy it’s probably not a good time to take on an entire new devotional structure.

Slow down when driving through fog. When your visibility is limited, take things more slowly so that you have time to react when you come upon something unexpected. Don't barrel ahead full throttle to get to the other side. In foggy spiritual times, slow down and become more aware of God' guidance in your life.

Use your headlights, they don't much help you see, but they do make you more visible to others around you. In the spiritual sense this would mean being true to who you are, not pretending to be someone else.

Trust in God to see you through. In the fog panic is the worst reaction you can have. Trust your instincts as gifts from God and follow them. Fear of any kind is a lack of faith. Have faith and move cautiously.

Eventually the fog will lift, and things will be clear again and you will see the sun. In the spiritual case I hope that you see the Son, clearly after the fog. And remember to thank God when you come out of the fog. It is so easy to call on God when we need strength, but then when the time of trial is over we often forget to thank God for getting us through. Or we begin to fool ourselves that we got through it on our own power.

So, like I said: I drove through the fog this morning, and when I got through it the sun (Son) was shining as if to remind me that all was right with the world.


Pax