Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. [7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.] —Proverbs 3:5-6 [7]
It’s Labor Day afternoon. I’m on a return flight with my wife by my side; I have the window seat with a glorious view of puffy, cotton ball clouds dotting the horizon as far as I can see. A young girl with blonde braided hair and a pink shirt, age 11, sits by my wife in the aisle seat. She has an iPhone and earbuds in. She’s flying alone, but not for the first time. Her pink shirt reminds me of my own 16 year old daughter whom we left this morning at a full-time ballet school in the northeast. It was a sad, but sweet, goodbye as my emotions hit turbulence with the fasten-seat-belt sign on.
It’s time to remember a familiar truth—a truth all Christians struggle to live out in practice. It’s time to trust the Lord with all my heart and to not lean on my own understanding. It's time to acknowledge my dependence on Him with what I can and can’t see. It’s time to turn away from evil thoughts, the fear of man, and what could go wrong. This is not only truth fit for this situation, it’s also truth to live by throughout life.
With this fresh reminder, I confess my need to leave my teenage daughter in His care and pray for her two roommates whom we met for the first time. One is from Japan, 18, shy, barely speaks English. She cried when her new friends hugged her and said they would help her with the transition. The other roommate, 17, from New Orleans, has a Mormon background and is sweet, polite, and bubbly. I still see the image of the three of them hugging as my wife and I left for the airport to head back to Georgia.
The girl on the plane interrupts my thoughts. She wants a picture of the clouds. I try to lean back so she can take a good shot from the aisle seat, her blue eyes smiling as she chews a piece of gum. She’s going to visit her mom who recently moved to South Carolina.
In the light of Proverbs 3:5-7, I know I can trust an all-wise, good and sovereign God, while praying for three ballerinas and a girl from a broken home as I travel back to a house where my 16 year old leaves behind a pink, and missing her, room.
For Reflection
What circumstances are you in that you need to surrender and trust Him with?
Are you depending on Him, or are you determined to make it in your own wisdom?
Who has the Lord directed your way recently that you can love, serve, and point to Him?