Daily Wisdom 02-04-2006 The Right Direction

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7 (NIV)

A few days ago, I was one of the lucky parents chosen to accompany my son's sixth grade class on a day of snow tubing at Bear Creek Mountain. Little did I know the fun that was awaiting me as we made our way up the mountainside, only to slide down faster than I could ever imagine just a few minutes later.

I found myself screaming, giggling and laughing all the way down the hill and wondered if anyone was watching my forty-something body bouncing ungracefully on the tube that I was clinging to so desperately.

The first time down the hill was quite an adventure. Those who have done this before will know why. To begin this uncharted journey, you have to give yourself a good running start and then flop down on your stomach on an oversized tire with two small straps (or what I called lifelines) to grab onto. Well, the first time I did this, somehow my personal navigational system got mixed up and I found myself turning around and going down backward. I remember looking at the faces at the top of hill laughing and pointing as I screamed, "NO, I want to go forward, not backwards!" When I soon approached the first large mogul, it hit me that I had no idea what was in store for me on this wild ride. Miraculously, I managed to turn myself around and was now facing in the right direction, but going way too fast for my comfort zone. At that moment, I was hoping to somehow turn backward again so I wouldn't see the peril ahead of me!

I soon learned that when going down a mountain at incredibly fast speeds, it doesn't really matter if you are forward or backwards. I can attest that it can be very frightening and unnerving either way.

Although, I survived the afternoon of fun and excitement, it made me realize how difficult it is when we are "out of control" and going in the wrong direction in our lives. It reminded me of how important God is and how much we need Him to keep us on the right path. We need to hand over the reins completely and allow Him to lead us in the right direction. By reading His Word daily and asking for wisdom, He will gratefully take our lives and turn them around and point us where He wants us to go.

Another important direction we can take is not forward or backward, but rather up and down at the same time. Confused? Don't be. As we surrender to God from top to bottom, we need to go down on our knees to send up our most precious prayer requests, heart-filled desires and steadfast petitions for ourselves and those we love. How wonderful it is that we don't need a compass to find God. We just need to ask, seek and knock to find Him waiting for us.

There is no better directional finder that points to Him other than prayer, and we can be confident that He knows the right answers and direction for each one of us!

If you're interested, there is more information about:
The most important event of all time and
The most important Book of all time.

Contributed by Diane Check: calvarycheck@comcast.net Diane has enjoyed writing short morning "thoughts for the day" for associates at her insurance company for the past few years. She lives in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, with her husband and son. She is currently working on her first prayer devotional.