I was going somewhere the other day, and even though I had the directions all mapped out, at some point, I made a wrong turn. I didn’t realise it initially, and just kept going on and on in the wrong direction. Somewhere at the back of my mind was the question “are you sure this is the right way?”, because the route felt a bit odd. At a certain point, I felt I should have reached my destination, but somehow, it seemed as though I was nowhere near it. I dismissed the question though, and kept on moving. I did stop to ask someone at a point, but the person did not really know the area, so I simply carried on and hoped my destination would materialise soonest. However, after I had gone on for a while, this did not show any sign of happening, and eventually, I stopped and had to accept that I was, in all likelihood, going the wrong way. Thankfully, at that point, there was a lady coming from the opposite direction, and I decided to ask again for directions. She nicely pointed me in the right direction, which involved me making a U-turn, as I had actually been moving away from the place I was going to, rather than towards it. I eventually found the place, thankfully, although I ended up being late. But, I learnt a couple of lessons from this incident.

Sometimes in life, we know we are on the wrong path. We can hear a little voice telling us this, but we ignore it. We can see the signs all around us that show that this is not the way we should be going, but we ignore them and somehow keep hoping we will still get what we want, or to where we want to go in the end. We may ask people for help, but sometimes, we ask the wrong people, and they can’t help us much. So we think, ‘oh well, at least I tried asking someone’ and we keep going on the wrong path. We may also have God’s word to guide us, just like I had a map, but sometimes we either misinterpret it or totally ignore it. We may think, ‘this can’t be that hard, I can do without a map/the Word in this area’, not acknowledging that just one wrong turn can send us in a completely wrong direction. Sometimes we may be stubborn and even after realising we are on the wrong path, we may still not want to change direction, because to do so will force us to admit we were wrong, and pride or fear can sometimes make it difficult for us to do that.

Thankfully, God allows U-turns in life. However, he does not exactly force us to take these U-turns. There will be signs, there will be people who we can reach out to who can help guide us to the right path, sometimes there will even be people who will be bold enough and care enough to tell us we are on the wrong path. Isaiah 30:21 (KJV) says “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” We can also pray and trust in God for guidance. Psalm 32:8 (ESV) says “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.” All these verses tell us that God will indeed counsel us and tell us which way to go. However, no matter how much instruction or direction we receive, it will be of no use if we do not listen and obey. It’s like having a map but not following it.

Is there an area in your life where you need to make a U-turn today? Or are you at a stage where you are not sure you are on the right track? The earlier we stop and confirm this, the easier it will be to make the u-turn and get to where we need to go. And we will get there faster too. If I had stopped much earlier and made sure I was on the right track before moving on, I wouldn’t have gone so far in the wrong direction, quite a distance away from my destination, and it would have also meant a shorter distance to cover to get back on track. Because I went on and on though, it meant a longer journey for me to get to my destination.

However even when you realise you’ve made a mistake, try not to worry about the time you feel you wasted going in the wrong direction. God can still cause something beautiful to come out of such situations. (In my case, I managed to get a blog post out of it :-)). Try not to leave it too long before making that U-turn though, or it may end up getting more and more difficult and complicated to find your way back. And there may be no shortcuts on the way back.

Nevertheless, as long as there is life, there is hope and the opportunity to make that U-turn. All we need to do is Check, Listen, Trust and Obey… and enjoy the journey back. Who knows, if we are as lucky as the prodigal son, there may be a feast waiting for us, with barbecued beef! (according to The Message). If not though, just buy yourself a burger 🙂