How to use a compass

Orienteering. I just had to Google that word to make sure I was using it correctly. It involves reading a map and using numbers, in the woods on unknown paths. Yeah. My brain is missing the neurons it needs to do these things.  But when I was a 12 year old Girl Scout, I did not yet know this about myself. I thought I was pretty good at everything. And so did all my friends. We learned the hard way that staying on course isn’t always as easy as it looks.

I was part of a Girl Scout troop from elementary school until … well I can’t tell you how long — we made a secret pact years ago never to disclose this information. And we never, ever would have been caught dead in one of those uniforms. We earned our badges and did our work. But we were also super cool.

So when we somehow wound up at an actual Girl Scout Area camp out that involved sleeping in real tents, we were a little out of our league. And then for one of the activities, they gave us a compass, some numbers and sent us out into the woods. “Follow this course” they said, “and we will meet you at the finish line.” The people who said this were wearing all of the pieces of the official uniform and hiking boots. We, of course, looked cute.

It didn’t seem like that big of a deal. The compass was going to lead us right where we needed to go. Surely this would be over quickly and we could do something cool, like braid each other’s hair.

So we set off.

But it was pretty boring. All that walking in just one direction. And that continuing to check the needle on the compass and the numbers? Boring. We got distracted. We talked, and laughed and walked around all the muddy streams because who wants to walk through mud?

And  you can guess what happened next. We wound up in this field of fallen trees. The path suddenly disappeared, and we realized we had no idea which way to go, or how to really use that compass we had been carrying around. It was at this point that we resorted to what we did know how to do. Yell loudly for HELP!

We were eventually rescued. And taught how to use a compass. But you probably don’t want to ask me to lead your next orienteering course.

“A long obedience in the same direction” is how Eugene Peterson writes about our walk with Christ; our discipleship. This phrase gets stuck in my head when I read it.  And every time it rolls into the front of my brain? The memory of this crazy trip comes with it.

You see, “a long obedience in the same direction” sounds about as exciting as following the needle on that compass did to my 12 year old ears.

You mean I have to just keep walking? Down this same path and pay attention to only that needle? You want me to turn when it says turn and walk through mud when it says keep going? You want me to keep my eyes on the path and the needle and not get distracted by everything around me? Really? That’s how this works? 

The Bible says it like this, “For we walk by faith and not by sight”.  My problem is that I tend to like sight better. That orienteering course would have been a lot easier if I could’ve seen the finish line. Then we wouldn’t have had to pay so much attention to that compass. 

But God breaks into my thinking and begins to remind me of where we’ve been; of the walks that he and I have taken. He pulls that movie reel through my mind slowly. Those roads we walked that seemed to have no end in sight, the windy paths and muddy messes that led to some pretty amazing mountain tops. Remember how you never thought … and he fills in the blank with faces and people and memories of victory; of finish lines I didn’t think we’d make it to or never even realized existed. Remember how you wanted to quit? How you lamented the sameness of the path I called you to walk? Remember?

And as I sit in the early morning darkness of a new day and watch him pull the sun from its slumber,  Again? I ask with a hint of trepidation, we’re gonna do this all again?

And he whispers into the hard places of my heart. Yes. Trust me. I know where we are headed. 

I am learning, slowly, how to listen; that walking by faith through ordinary days sometimes looks a lot like doing same things. I am also learning that hiking boots are a must. There’s nothing wrong with looking cute, but I speak from experience when I say, there is going to be mud. Fortunately, Girl Scout uniforms are optional.

So, today? If your “long obedience in the same direction” seems to be leading you in circles or into a field of fallen trees, take a minute and check in with your Compass. Lean in and listen for the voice of the One who knows the way home. He’s right there. He’s been there all along.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1).