follow.

I had not even been in the car for ten minutes.

The kids and I were traveling a back road with our destination being one of Riley’s soccer games.

The directions to the game were already typed into the phone.

The phone was resting within arm’s reach on my knee.

I noticed, however, that my friends Greg and Leanne were in their car behind mine.

Their destination was the same because their daughter plays on the same team.

I dialed Leanne’s number and said, “Will you guys pass me so I can just drive where you are driving?  I mean, I have the directions in my hand, but I don’t really know if I can trust them.  Besides – it would just be easier to blindly follow.”

I hung up the phone, pulled to the side of the road, hopped back in line behind their vehicle and laughed at myself.

Yep.

Blindly follow.

That is exactly right.

It is so much easier to blindly follow.

To just turn my blinker to the right when the car ahead of me does the same.

I don’t have to look at the map or consider which direction is faster or more scenic or more direct.

In fact, I don’t have to think at all.

And I get so frustrated when I watch my children or my friends do the exact same thing in real life.

With the friends they follow or the choices they make.

And, of course, I am guilty as well.

The directions are in my hand.

The right way is laid out for me.

It isn’t even a mystery.

I just don’t want to read them.

I don’t want to think for myself.

I don’t want to read the directions and make a choice.

I want someone else to decide for me.

Someone else to pick the path and chart the course.

It’s pretty silly, isn’t it?

And worse.

It’s lazy.

And dangerous.

Foolish.

To disregard the directions placed in my possession.

In my grasp.

To not even go my own way, but to simply just go your way.

And I think we do this all the time.

I do this all the time.

When I write off a person based on someone else’s assessment.

When I judge a book solely on the basis of another person’s review.

When I form my belief about any subject because of what so-and-so said instead of what God says.

Ultimately,

I don’t want to choose easy.

I don’t want to blindly follow.

And I don’t want to raise kids who pick that path either.

Which, means, of course, that our future may not be predictable.

And our journey may not be straight or ordinary.

That I have some hard work to do.

And some hard work to place on their shoulders as well.

And then some stepping back

as they struggle under their own burdens

and I let them read the directions for themselves.