RE-CALIBRATING MY DAY

I believe in signs, whether they are man-made or God's invisible direction signals. One of the most vocal and visual signs 

is posted at railroad crossings.

Here we find wise life and death traffic advice and also hidden spiritual implications. The material consequence, if the sign is obeyed, prevents you from being mangled to death with your vehicle when run down by an unexpected speeding train.

The spiritual consequences of not heeding this advice have repercussions for our well-being as Christians and the quality of our daily walk with the Lord.

I find that during any given day, as the hours tick by, my life sometimes begins to feel increasingly scattered in many directions. There are times when I feel fragmented, disintegrated. Everyone seems to want a piece of me and I don't have enough to go around. I have so many things on my plate that it is heaped high. Like the pieces of a puzzle, my day, my life needs to be assembled together again with care. “Recollected” is a good word for my need, with the emphasis being on re-collected. All the fragments need gathering up into some order. That's where the above sign's message comes in with good advice.

STOP! That comes first. I simply have to stop whatever I'm doing and take stock of my situation. Put on the brakes. Let my interior engine idle. Stop the noise, the dissonance, and embrace the silence so that I can think clearly. I shouldn't go any further, cross any lines, make any decisions until I'm re-collected and put back together again—something Humpty Dumpty couldn't accomplish even with all the help of his military entourage. Only when I'm still can I know how far off course I may have drifted.

LOOK! Look around. Look both ways to see whether I've taken on too much or have been put upon by others. Who has dished out all the things on my plate? Am I following God's orders or my own inclinations and plans? Is the enemy of my soul pushing me in every direction to distract me from my God-given trajectory for my day and for my life? I need to open my eyes to see what is happening to me.

LISTEN! After I've taken the above two actions, it's time to listen. I need to tune out the static that interferes with a clear audio signal from God. In this more tranquil state I can finally begin to focus on priorities, discern between what's important and what is just the tyranny of the urgent. Here is where God can whisper to me and point out what unneeded barnacles are clinging to my life and how to detach them from me.

Perhaps I need to take action on this spiritual exercise more than once a day, if I feel what is called “discombobulated”—a strange but descriptive word for being bewildered and unable to think straight. We all know that feeling at times. Like being disoriented or lost in a maze or caught off balance. There are times when we may need to take a whole day off to catch up with ourselves and reset our course. This is especially important when I'm facing some critical decisions and need clarity of mind and certain direction from God. STOP-LOOK-LISTEN is the key.

When using a GPS while driving and inadvertently making a wrong turn or failing to follow the voice or visual instruction of our device, we need to re-calibrate. To admit our error, start again, and follow the instructions to a new course to arrive at our desired destination.

When I hear God's still small voice in the quiet of my STOP—LOOK—and LISTEN experience, and if I don't heed His voice but persist in forging ahead in my overheated, impatient state, I will pay a price with the consequences. I will get run over with the speeding train of life. God has made a way of escape for us: There is safety in BELIEVING IN SIGNS.