REFLECTIONS

It's not like I haven't been here before....you know....where the road you were on suddenly changes and you begin to wonder if you missed your exit. Your GPS is turned off and your mind is busy mulling over what you have accomplished up to this point and what is on the to-do list for this day and the days ahead....and suddenly you become aware that the road seems unfamiliar.
I would imagine that many of us have experienced similar situations as this on a road trip to somewhere....but perhaps we do not always realize in our day-to-day world a very similar, subtle transition may have happened.
A good example of finding our roles changing with us sometimes struggling to shift gears, is when our children transition from needing our watchful eye, into becoming adults themselves, very capable of finding their own way just as we did. Sometimes, we keeping offering advice when it is not asked for; we keep instructing them in their choices, when they are now responsible for their own conduct; we keep anticipating a need and try to meet it without them ever hardly recognizing they had a need.
If we learn nothing else from this kind of behavior, hopefully, at some point we will realize we are on a different road now and our role has changed. It is to our children's harm when we continue to try to hang on to the control of their decisions beyond the time when they need to be making their own. They sometimes see what we do as interference in their lives and think we don't trust them to handle things on their own.
Boom! We missed our exit. We missed that transition where we became cheerleaders and sounding boards, available if needed, ready to advise if asked, and fully trusting that they would find their way because you equipped them to do that in the 18 years you had them in your School of Life. Now there are hurt feelings, strained relationships, nothing seems to go just right, resistance where there should be none.....wrong road....wrong role.
God has a way of still teaching us, even after we are off the 'milk' and into the 'meat' of His Word. He gives us the freedom to find our own way once we know His Son as Savior and Lord. He teaches us through His Word and life experiences how to seek Him in the decisions we make, the direction we take......but sometimes that road we were on transitions to the next level and we are still trying to move forward on the 'old road'.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 teaches us that there is a time for everything. Sometimes when we are struggling with changes that are inevitable, we resist because what we are doing, the road we are on is familiar, comfortable....when in reality, we are switching lanes to set us up for the transition exit to our next assignment.
God won't make those decisions for us because He wants us to make the right decision for ourselves. When we fully trust His plan for us, we will become more willing to let the Holy Spirit (our Heavenly GPS) direct us in making the transitions that are going to continue to honor God and build His Kingdom.
In reality, we were called here for a purpose, and as long as we remain committed to follow His calling and leading, He will propel us forward on this highway to Heaven. For at the end of this journey, lies Home.