Steering home

It began as a game.

Driving home from some activity one afternoon, I said to our eldest daughter, “Steer us home.  You are responsible for telling me what direction to go at every intersection.”

We do this occasionally with each of the three eldest children.  We have always made it home.  Sometimes we run in circles for a while.  Other times, we set out in a completely wrong direction.  There was a time that one child got so disoriented that, thinking we were hopelessly lost, cried out, “Daddy, you steer the car now.”  Within minutes, we were on course once again.  Once in a while, it simply takes a helpful hint from Daddy set us back in the right direction.

It is an opportunity for each child to experience the freedom of decision making; but the parent is still in the driver’s seat.  One of our children took advantage of the freedom once.  She began directing the driver in the direction she wanted to go, rather than toward home.  The privilege of directing the driver then fell to another child in the car.

Navigating toward home is an important life skill.  The driver of the universe has given us the instruction to “steer towards home”.  He has given us His road map detailing how to get there.  He has given us the freedom to steer our lives in whatever direction we wish to go.  If we ask, he will give us course corrections.  He wants us to get home.

We can make the choice to get hopelessly lost, or listen to the directions He has given us and make it home.