We had an interesting Easter weekend. In reflecting on the past week and in fact the past year, God is showing me that you can make all the plans you want but He will direct your path and you better be ready to happily change directions if need be or life will not be pretty. Easter is always a very emotional time of year for me. I get very weepy and contemplative and most always experience a joyous high after the collective celebration of He Is Risen!! For many years we have been in various places with friends and family planning some sort of inspirational way of coming together for this special day. This year since all the kids were elsewhere and being back in Blowing Rock with no real church family we decided to do the sunrise service on Chimney Rock near Lake Lure. I had every detail planned out which is how I like to do things but from the moment we left, nothing went as planned. Our timing was off so we got there much later than expected. We did get a good laugh from our motel accommodations which were not what we expected and since the season hasn't quite started in the area, not too many things were open so there wasn't very much to do but drive around.
We managed to find a place to eat and concentrated on "planning" the sunrise service the next morning. The sign said that the gates opened at 5am so I set the alarm for 5am thinking we would get there around 5:30 but Ira convinced me that sunrise wasn't until 6:40 and since the weather was frigid, let's get there at 6:15. I reluctantly agreed. We arrived at 6:10 on a frosty Easter morning only to find that the gates were closed and one car after the other turning around in disappointment. They failed to let everyone know that they closed the gates at 6am. I was VERY disappointed to say the least. My best laid plans were falling apart and there we were riding around in the cold car trying to figure out what to do next. There wasn't even a place open to get a cup of coffee and of course there wasn't a coffee pot in the room! When I'm up that early...I need my coffee so we walked into a big hotel on the lake where we usually stay when finances aren't so tight and asked the clerk at the desk if we could have a cup of coffee. He was so nice and welcoming and after telling him of our dilemma with coffee in hand, he pointed us towards an out of the way park that sits on the lake with a spot on view of the rising sun. My spirit is lifting as I realize all is not lost and maybe God has a different plan in mind, so off we go to have our own Resurrection celebration complete with hot coffee, small radio for music and God's glorious landscape of mountains,lake,flowers,trees,two white geese and that beautiful sun rising in the distance.
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By now I am leaping with joy and realizing it can't get any better than this and Ira and I are in silent prayer and thanksgiving for what this all means. God spoke in my heart of the irony of all that has happened in our life this year and this little scene kind of summed it up. So many things the past few years have been twisted and turned in directions that we had never planned. I have to say that nothing has been stable. Our living situation,our friendships, our business,our finances our feelings of security in this world have all been turned upside down. We have spent so many years going with the flow that this abrupt bend in the road has not come easy and I admit that my attitude hasn't always been the best. Just when the sun was inching up over the horizon and we're sitting there on the bench with tears in our eyes, this song came on the radio by Third Day and I lost it. It speaks of losing your way on the journey and asking God to give you a revelation of what,where and how He wants to use you and though I've never been at a place of losing my faith, I can relate to the place of losing my direction or maybe it's just the turn in the road where you can't quite see what the direction is. Anyway, it did me in and confirmed to Ira once again that I'm an emotional basket case! I'm dramatic...God's dramatic in me. He always uses words and music to stir my soul. So it was a very good day and I am optimistic about what lies ahead for us.
REVELATION
by Third Day
My life has led me down the road that's so uncertain
Now I am left alone and I am broken
Trying to find my way
Trying to find the faith that's gone
This time I know that you are holding all the answers
I'm tired of losing hope and taking chances
On roads that never seem
To be the ones that bring me home
Give me a revelation
Show me what to do
'Cause I've been trying to find my way
I haven't got a clue
Tell me should I stay here
Or do I need to move
Give me a revelation
I've got nothing without you
I've got nothing without you
My life has led me down this path that's ever winding
Through every twist and turn, I'm always finding
That I am lost again
Tell me when this road will ever end
I don't know where I can turn
Tell me, when will I learn
Won't you show me where I need to go
Let me follow your lead
I know that it's the only way that I can get back home
