The Right Way

Is it possible to go the wrong way or to have gone the wrong way in the right manner?

Yesterday (as in many days) I again noticed my lace curtains in the dining room were dingy and dusty at the top. I decided to remove and wash them, and then noticed how clouded my windows were, having a white film on them.

I decided that since the curtains were down I should do this isolated betterment of just those windows/curtains the right way.  I should get Windex and clean the windows.

I soon discovered that Windex would not remove the white, dirty film on the outside, so then, I mixed up hot water with vinegar and cleaning fluid and scrubbed it with a sponge while standing on a chair.  After having removed the screen.

Lastly, I turned the hose on and watered it thoroughly down.

I still don’t have all my curtains back up but the view this morning is much clearer.

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I don’t think anyone calls out to God for His help when they feel that in every way they’ve always gone the right way, and therefore are not lost. Often in life, we make decisions that seem best in the moment of crossroads. None of us have true knowledge of future details, and to complicate things, perhaps we do choose rightly yet other things cloud the outcome of the choice.

We don’t have certain luxuries of absolute knowledge, as God does.

When I think of either/or and either going the right way or going the wrong way at so many points in time and in life, my many thoughts and feelings make it appear too broken for any meaningful repair, or absolute understandings.

And then I think about the phrase the right way, I think that a way can be a path or a clear decision. Many times every day in the littlest things or the biggest things we are choosing various ways to go.

I also think of the phrase the right way as in the right manner of doing something. I cleaned the windows and the curtains in the right manner or, I cleaned the windows and curtains in the right way.

I think about being faithful in the little things and God directing us always from where we currently are.  While in our human condition we meditate upon where we’ve been and where we want to go or be, God continually meets us where we are and when we are in Christ, we have the security of no condemnation for our weaknesses, sins and failures that exist in all the places where we have previously been.

Though we often cannot see through the clouded glass that separates us from where we are and where we continually keep going (since time does not stop), it makes so much so challenging.

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“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.” – Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

Trusting is the manner by which we walk daily; and being steadfast and faithful in the little things is the manner by which we slowly and often fearfully move forward. I say forward because even when there is clear loss and backward movement, it is not possible to go in any way but in the present, that is moving continually into the future.

Lord Jesus, help me to choose the right way whenever I must consciously choose and help me also to choose the right manner of walking in the way before me, daily.  Please find me in this place and come to my aid.  You are the God who sees and directs me with Your eye upon me, yet the way appears deeply clouded before me.