Bridges

Recently, on a trip to the southern part of our state with some of our closest comrades in the whole wide world, my better half and I found ourselves strolling along the shore of an ancient bayou observing and admiring all the loveliness of a Louisiana landscape in Summer.  As we poked along the path stopping now and then to admire a certain kind of flower we weren’t familiar with or a crazy critter we hadn’t seen before, we came upon the stone bridge in the picture above. Until this juncture in our journey, we had been relegated to exploring the side of the bayou we were on. But now…oh now! Adventure began whispering in my ear, and before my darling could beg me not to, I had placed the bayou between us, certain that the “other side” would be exceedingly more extravagant than the already fabulous one we were enjoying. I suppose the only explanation for my burst of exuberance is the simple idea that bridges were meant to be crossed! So I crossed it!

If you’ll think figuratively with me for a moment, I’m sure each of you can see the parallel this scenario holds with the lives we live. Most, if not all of us, have experienced a time in our journey of life in which the opportunity to move from the normal to the unknown presented itself. Perhaps it had to do with an educational pathway or a career choice or a relationship or any of a bazillion different scenarios that could be played out. Whatever the specifics, we were on “Path A” when a bridge to “Path B” came up out of nowhere. What is a person to do in that kind of situation? Do we need to cross every bridge we come to? Hmmmm…let’s ponder that for a second.

For the child of God, we can rest assured that He will guide us through all the twists and turns of life. Of course, in order to comprehend and follow his GPS directions, we must stay in tune with Him through His word. It is when the radio signal between our maker and ourselves is strong in our lives that what God said through the prophet Isaiah will be true for us: “Your ears will hear a word behind you, This is the way, walk in it,” (Isaiah 30:21). Then and only then will we confidently be able to discern if an individual bridge necessitates our crossing it or not. And oh, please dear friend don’t fall for the well intended but terrible advice that sounds like this: “Well, you just have to follow your heart.” Adam followed his heart in the Garden of Eden and we have been competing with the resulting calamity ever since! David followed his heart when he saw the beautiful Bathsheba bathing on the rooftop, and a divided house and family was the result. Sampson followed his heart when Delilah gave him a pity party and the power of God abandoned him. Jeremiah tells us clearly that “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9), so why in the world would we follow our heart when we can follow the One who created us, called us, and gifted us uniquely to know and follow Him?

Every bridge CAN be crossed, but not every bridge SHOULD be crossed. Some bridges must be treated by us like the “other” road in Robert Frost’s famous poem “The Road Not Taken” and just be saved “for another day…”. I am convinced that if I am presented with a choice to cross or not to cross any given bridge that comes up along life’s highway, I can conclude wisely whether or not to cross by asking these questions: (1) Is this bridge going to bring me closer to being the person the Lord created me to be? (2) Is this bridge going to bring me opportunities to share the Love of Christ with others? (3) Is this bridge consistent with the truth of God’s word? (4) Is this bridge consistent with what I already know about the way God has gifted me? When we prayerfully answer these questions, the Spirit of the Living God will give us clarity as to whether or not a given bridge SHOULD be crossed or not.

As it turned out, the other side of the bridge crossing the bayou that day was pretty much a carbon copy of the side I had already been on. Had I listened to my wife, I would have saved myself a few steps and a smidgen of disappointment. And if we learn to listen to the voice of the Lord rather than the myriad of other voices that attempt to drown Him out, we will save ourselves much of the same. So whether it’s along a lazy bayou, or crossing a bridge that the Lord directs us to traverse, I’ll see you in the Great Outdoors!