Spring Trail Maintenance – Part 1

I realize it’s time for many folks’ annual spring cleaning. I’m all for a little spring cleaning too and I promise I’ll try to do some. The blinds need a good cleaning before I open my windows to let the spring air in and all the lamps need to be cleaned before I turn on the attached ceiling fans.

But when I’m blogging I like to forget about such things. Spring cleaning, bleh!

So we’re going to do something oh so much more fun this week! We’re going to do a little trail maintenance! While millions of homeowners will indeed be doing their spring cleaning this week (or soon), hundreds of trail volunteers will be hitting the trails in the coming weeks as well, bushwacking back the brush, removing fallen trees or branches, repairing wooden steps, and widening the footpaths for the expected spring hikers. And I’d much rather be on the trail than in my house dealing with dust bunnies and weary carpets and a messy garage.

I hope you’ll join me each day this week for a little spiritual trail maintenance. As spring approaches and the snow begins to melt – I hope – I figure it’s time to examine the paths we’ve been on, remove anything that is hindering our steady progress, check for danger of all sorts, repair what may have been neglected, and put a fresh coat of paint on those blazes so that those who are following in our footsteps can navigate the trail a little more easily.

So off we go!

Am I on the Right Path?
We’re going to ease into this clean-up job because that’s how I like to do things. Less scary that way. In fact, I promise you we’ll just do a little maintenance each day. I’ll give you a bite-size job that you can munch on for a while and then digest easily.

Today we’re just going to determine if we’re even on the right path. In the trails around where I live, in the Huachuca Mountains, there are trails that aren’t really trails at all. They’re the paths the illegals from Mexico take as they secretly traipse through these border hills. Occasionally we have accidentally ended up on these “trails” as we’ve been hiking and gotten temporarily lost. Not a good feeling. Once we realize we’re on the wrong trails, we quickly backtrack and get back on the safer trails that actually lead to where we’re going.

That’s what we need to do today. So simply ask yourself the following questions and straighten up, clean up, and mend up what is amiss by applying the following truths from God’s Word:

• Am I walking in the way of the Lord? Am I a Christ follower, in the truest sense of that term? Am I waking up each morning aware that He is my trail guide, heeding to His leadership, yielding to His direction, cheerfully falling into step with Him? Have I let pride knock Him out of His rightful place as my Lord and Leader? Am I trying to set the pace myself? Or have I yielded to Him completely?

•  Am I on the narrow path, the one that leads to life? Or have I wandered onto the wider path, enticed by the large throng of people who are on that path? How can I know? Let’s face it, the narrow path is more challenging, kind of like a black diamond ski trail. Am I on a path of ease that’s taking me no where fast? Or am I on the narrow and challenging path that leads to beautiful summits that few ever get to?

Trail Maintenance Day One – complete! But don’t step away too quickly. Let’s allow these challenging questions to stay with us a while today, chewing on them like a strong-flavored, chewy bite of trail jerky! See you on the trail tomorrow!