Not the path we would have chosen

Today is the last day of November, and when I arose, it was the fresh beginning of advent and suddenly winter,  the temperatures actually plummeting from hour to hour, the misty rain turning into a light snow, the skies a dense steel gray.  Perfect weather for a run, I thought. I changed from my sweatshirt to a fleece jacket and dug through a basket in the back of the closet for gloves and a hat.  

It is all in what you are wearing, I have learned over the years, sometimes the hard way. 

And in this preposterous year of 2020, we've all had to change what we have worn, changed our expectations, put on His strength, and carried pockets full of grace.

I love a winter run over the river and through the woods.  The path I usually take is not straight, but curves gently around the hills and enlarges the view on the ridge, a crooked way up the slopes complete with some dirt trails, potholes, cracked pavement, but never boring.  And sometimes I am surprised along the way with shy deer peeking out in unexpected places.

I ran under the black lace of tree branches against the leaden sky.  By all appearances, the trees look dead, but they are only resting from a busy autumn and sending down roots deeper in the soil.  

And I am reminded that wilderness in the Bible is not a fearful place, but where God's glory grows, where His paths lead us to another dimension of Him, a deeper abiding, and outcomes we never could have expected.  "Yes, you can trust Me in this too." The unknown is not unknown to Him.

Eight hundred years before the birth of Christ, the prophet Isaiah wrote, not realizing that almost three thousand years later we would still be cherishing his words:

A voice cries,

In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; 

make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level,

and the rough places a plain.

And the glory of the LORD

             shall be revealed...

                           Isaiah 40. 3-5 

There is immense beauty around us, even in the really rough places and uneven ground, even when the trees no longer provide shade, even when these hills seem to go on forever.  Because God is with us.

How can I prepare Your way, O LORD?

        Guide my steps.

        Align my heart with Yours.

        Open my eyes

           to Your majesty all around me.

This year of 2020 was not the path we would have chosen,

                    but still there is Your glory in it,

                    Your incredible designs,

                    Your love and faithfulness,

                                       more than we can fathom.

I was only slightly reluctant to step away from the warmth of the house this morning, because I knew, while it may be really cold, His beauty would astonish my fear away.  And I would return a little bit different, reminded of Who has prepared His way for me in this day.  

The wilderness is not marked by absence and affliction, but filled by His Presence.