Road Trip

Every 2 or 3 years I take a road trip north of Lake Superior.  Almost always the trip has been in the summer during construction, black fly, and tourist season.  Once I took the trip on Labour Day weekend and I had the privilege of seeing the leaves begin to change colour after the first frost (yes Sept. 3!!!!).  Most recently my trip was in March. This is a tricky time to travel those roads.   There are long, long spaces between towns, no tourist stops are open, ice fishing huts are still on the lake and weather can blow in at any moment. The potential for problems is real, and the likelihood of getting help is negligible (no cell phone signals either).  The trip was incredible. There was no construction to slow things down and make the drive uncomfortable.  There was no traffic making the drive smooth and carefree. There were no mosquitoes or black flies to either bite or scrub off the wind shield and grill. Miraculously, there was also no bad weather.   Sunny days, dry roads, smooth travel.  A true gift.  We rejoiced at the ease of the trip.   We shared with everyone we spoke to of how wonderfully easy and care-free the trip was.   It was so unusual to have such an smooth drive through that unpredictable territory that we couldn't help but express our delight in the gift of ease we were given.
So often in life we travel through periods of time where life is rather smooth sailing.  The bumps in the road are minimal, there are no impediments to joy and we simply move forward headlong and carefree.  The potential for challenge is real, but graciously absent.  It is in these times that I find it so important to stop and marvel at the gracious gift of ease. Like we did on our road trip, the ease was unusual and we laughed out loud at our delightful situation.
Too often when life is hard we grumble, then seek God's help, and when it is easy we take God and His graciousness for granted.  In the good times we are prone to forget it is God who gives us what we are enjoying.  Today, good or bad, remember: "Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice" (Phil. 4:4).