the detours in life

My little town on the prairie is undergoing major road work this summer, resulting in several detours. Just to be able to cross one intersection means taking a four mile detour! I was taking my mother in law to a hairstylist appointment in the next town and so, had to detour. Inside, I was in a grumbling mood, thinking how silly it was to do that rather than just have one lane available for cars to go through.

As I drove, I took in the sights: corn about six foot tall, was waving on the breeze. The sun was out, storm clouds from the previous night disappearing quickly. Then as I came to a four way stop, I saw it: sunflowers! A huge crop of sunflowers, their heads turned towards the sun.

How can you see that and not feel thankful?

My grumbly mood disappeared rather quickly as I cheered on those flowers!

How many of us have detours in our lives? Some can be rather petty as a roadblock, but others are mountainous. A co-worker of mine sat at a hospital yesterday, awaiting word about her husband, who was diagnosed with kidney cancer. In her words, a massive tumor plus his kidney were removed. Now my friends, THAT is a detour! The unknown always scares me and I am sure she was and still is driving through the fog, hoping for that "field of sunflowers" moment.

Jesus also had his detours. He showed us that when a detour happens, we must go to God in prayer. Lazarus died. Jesus wept and prayed. Over 5000 people who were assembled to see him were hungry. Again Jesus prayed and fed them. A wedding feast ran out of wine, a major detour...at least to the family hosting the event. Jesus turned ordinary water into wine and thereby the feast was saved. In a detour there was also HOPE---hope that soon we'd be back on the road we know so well!

Turn your heads towards God, just as sunflowers always turn towards the sun. He knows about your detours and is always there to guide you, if you allow Him to. Never fear a roadblock or detour, for sometimes, the best sights are where you'd least expect them to be.