Detours and Delights

In my early attempts to learn how to drive, one of the things I dreaded so much is turning the vehicle (simply because I don’t know how much the vehicle needs to go forward before I can make the turn so I don’t scratch the vehicle or end up in curbs). But unless I am driving on the Saudi Arabia’s Highway 10, I will need to turn to the right or left at some point.

As we go on in life, we will eventually agree that turns and detours are part of life and I reckon that the sooner we agree the better. Sometimes they can be sudden because of low visibility and other times gradual — an unspoken misalignment from a path and in some other cases, an attempt to avoid oncoming traffic. Either way, the question is ‘how do we handle these unexpected detours off our path?’

One statement I have often considered quite misleading is “The end justifies the means,” and that is because it’s not always so — at least more often than not. How we arrive at our destination matters and we can’t keep the detours out of our story irrespective of the reason they happened. But we can embrace them knowing

…[with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.”

Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭28‬ ‭Amplified Bible.

Having our anchor hooked to the immutability of God’s promises is expected to create delights in our detours giving not only a satisfaction in God’s means of achieving our end (or maybe His end through us), but also a conviction that he can salvage our unintentional misalignment to bring beauty out of our ashes.

We don’t often appreciate turns, twists and detours, but a greater order of promises and assurances compel delights to say “in all, God is not done with us.”