Lessons in the snow field

I think I understand a little bit better what Jesus said about "walking the straight and narrow" and what the author of Hebrews said about "fixing our eyes on Jesus."

Yesterday we had a blizzard. They said 30cm of snow...which is almost a foot. I trudged through the ankle deep powder all the way home, realized my door was blocked by snow, and decided it was time to shovel. I shoveled even though the snow didn't stop. It was supposed to stop last night, and so I figured it was a good time to shovel even though the winds were fierce and I had snowflakes in my eyes. I shoveled for an hour and cleared my 20 foot driveway and my car, and the mounds of snow all along the driveway are now well over my shoulder (which makes an incredibly difficult time throwing snow on top).

I woke up this morning and looked out the window next to my bed. It's still snowing. My driveway and my car looks like I never shoveled last night. But I was late, so I threw on my snow pants and boots and rammed through my front door to open it enough to squeeze out. But it's a snowy morning...which means there are no shadows. I trudged through the powder snow in my boots down the sidewalk which has become increasingly narrow with the snow. And I kept my head down to keep the snow out of my eyes...and I wandered off the sidewalk into the field next to my house. I couldn't tell the difference and I wasn't looking ahead, I wasn't looking at my goal. I was moving forward, but I wasn't getting closer to the office. And it was much harder to walk on a snow-covered field than it was to walk on a snow-covered sidewalk.

The path is straight and narrow, much like my snow-covered sidewalk. I realized if I didn't keep my eyes fixed on my goal, the gym at the end of the road where I need to turn, I was going to get off track. And I did. I took my eyes off the goal and ended up in a field. I moaned and complained about how hard the "sidewalk" was to walk on when it wasn't plowed...but I wasn't walking on the sidewalk.

How many times I wandered off the straight and narrow path and complained at how hard it was to follow Jesus! Walking the straight and narrow path is so much easier when I'm looking ahead, when I'm looking at my goal, when I'm looking at my Jesus.