This morning, during my early morning walk, I came upon the
neighborhood deer herd. There are
a pack of deer that roam through our neighborhood, and typically there are
about 5 that are together most of the time, but I have counted 9 at once. Today, there were 3 that had just
crossed the neighborhood street where I was walking. The youngest one turned toward me, and actually started
moving toward me. Knowing how
unpredictable deer can be, I crossed the street to give a wider berth for
them. The younger one took a few
steps towards me, so I stopped walking.
All at once, the younger one bounded back across the street and headed
for a row of pine trees from the direction they came. The other two took off in the opposite direction, but kept
looking back for their young friend who was no longer with them.
I thought about how we often think going back from where
we came is the better idea. It was
comfortable there. It was
known. It was predictable. It felt better than forging ahead into
what lay ahead. But then I
realized that the poor young deer was now in a much worse predicament. He was alone, and had no friends. He now had more territory to cover to
catch up to the rest.
The good thing about deer is they want to stay in their
pack, so I am sure that the others waited until young-one could get it together
and rejoin them again.
This is not necessarily the case with us. We stay stuck if we keep looking back,
like the Israelites, wishing they had never left the slavery of Egypt because
the desert held too many unknowns.
Growth requires forging ahead, even when it looks very scary. Even the bondage of slavery can look
good (or a familiar group of trees) if we don’t trust the One leading us
forward.
Lesson of the day:
Look ahead and not back, and remember that the present means knowing
where we came from is not as good as where we are going. Being in the present means that we will
trust the one leading us every step of the way, even if the way forward looks
too hard.
