“Circling” (02/18/2025)

It starts with circling. I wander around in circles, back and forth, changing directions, turning. It’s my uncertainty. It’s my lack of purpose. It comes sometimes. I’m moving but not accomplishing anything. Thankfully, I learned what I must do. I have to simply speak the truth. “LORD, I’m lost. Show me your way.”

I don’t think I’m unique. I think many of us experience these “lost” moments when we just don’t know where we are or where we need to go. They are the times when we just don’t have a clear understanding of our purpose or of where we need go. We know where we are isn’t where we need to be, hence the circling, looking around, hoping for a clue, hoping for direction.

One of my favorite lines in scripture is an obscure line few know. It is Deuteronomy 2:2. The Israelites are lost on the Exodus. They have been circling a mountain for a long time. And finally, the LORD speaks to them. “You have been circling this mountain long enough, turn north.” It reminds me that we humans can get lost. It also reminds me that the LORD desires to show us the way, to lead us to purposeful lives, to lead us to Him.

I experience this “circling” frequently when I am trying to write a blog. I just don’t have an idea. I just don’t know what to write. What do others need to see, to read, to hear, to feel? I circle my desk, I sit and write, I delete and rise, I pace and fret, then I repeat the process. Fortunately, I have learned to read the signs earlier. And I simply sit, humbly admit my need, and ask for guidance.

Circling, however, isn’t limited to writing. It happens elsewhere in my life when I take my eyes off my LORD, when I get busy doing my thing and quit seeking to discern the LORD’s will for me. Before I know it, I’m adrift, without rudder. Before I know it, I’m circling without purpose.

Psalm 139 reminds me of the LORD’s loving care for me and the LORD’s awareness of me even in my mother’s womb. The LORD has woven within me His image and likeness and gifted me with purpose. One of the surest ways I’ve found to know that purpose, to hear the LORD’s encouragement and direction is to simply admit with all humility that I don’t know my way. “LORD, I’m lost. Show me your way.”

As we continue on our journeys, may we always seek the LORD’s power and presence in our lives and seek to discern from the LORD the LORD’s will for us in particular. Let us recognize that the LORD sees us, the LORD desires our happiness, and the LORD knows full well how we can get lost and how we can circle in bewilderment. Let us open our ears, our minds, our hearts and souls to the LORD’s encouraging and loving direction.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.