Is the straight path the right path?

A Lesson Learned: by Robin Thomas

The shortest distance between two points, as the crow flies, on the straight and narrow, is that the right way? If you had asked me a decade ago I might have said, “Absolutely,” but now I don’t think I would.

Did you know that a curved wall of bricks is stronger?

“The alternate convex and concave curves in the wall provide stability and help it to resist lateral forces, leading to greater strength than a straight wall of the same thickness of bricks without the need for buttresses.” (Wikipedia)

So too, I think, our lives are stronger when we don’t walk a straight line.

I was a super Christian growing up, or so I thought. I stayed on the straight path, went to church 3+ times a week, blasted Christian songs from my car stereo, did my bible studies, and made sure my feet didn’t get wet from veering off the path, but while I kept my feet dry, I also projected the image of being unapproachable. I was the heart breaker, not the breakee, I was the preacher, not the preachee, I was untested by the fire until…

I experienced my first broken heart in college. “Wow, this is what it feels like? It sucks.”

I experienced my parent’s divorce, which shook the very ground I walked on. Nowhere to call home.

I experienced death when my friend (ex-fiancée) committed suicide. Oh God, bring me through. What do you want from me?

God started to create some curves in my straight wall to strengthen me and work on my compassion in the way I relate to other people, caring not judgment.

Since then I have had many curves in my wall, but I have also experienced some of the greatest rewards, my husband, my children, my neighborhood.

I don’t think God ever intended for my path to be straight because He knew that I would be refined in the fire, I would become approachable with my understanding of heartache, instability, and devastation.

It is not until you look up from the valley that you understand the value of the mountaintop.

Back in 2010, when the Giants won the World Series, Barry Zito who was in the golden years of his career, said to the newscaster, “These guys are so young, (Buster Posey, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, etc.) they need to soak it all in because they have no idea how hard it is to get here.”

I remember thinking how profound that statement was and how wise. The Giants didn’t make it next year.

Albert Einstein said, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”

Oh, how I believe this. I have never spent more time on my knees before the Father than when my crooked path gave me no choice but to look up. God wants us to look up, to be dependent on Him. The chorus of Lauren Daigle’s song, Look Up Child, is running through my mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N90b4O3B-kY

Did you know that In and Out Burger has verse references on the bottom of their cups? Proverbs 3:5-6 is on the regular size.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (NIV)

I want to emphasize the “and he will make”

A straight path is not the one that leads to God, it is the one that comes from Him.

Mic drop.