Going West

Yesterday I went on an expedition through to Glasgow on the train. We planned an early start - to leave Waverly Station as soon as the Cheap Day Returns become valid - at 9:15am. Well - I know that the working folk would be leaving much earlier than that - but none of us are working at present!

In fact we didn't get away until the 11:30am train because one of our party set their alarm clock wrong. Fortunately the central appointment wasn't until 2 o'clock in the afternoon. However, the people we were going to see in the morning were disappointed.

We got to the afternoon appointment in good time, and afterwards we arranged to see the people we had missed in the morning. It turned out we were with them almost 4 hours, which was far longer than we would have managed if we had made the original schedule. So the disappointing start turned into a bonus.

As Robert Burns famously wrote, "the best laid plans o' mice and men gang aft aglay." That quote is in his Address to a Mouse, which he wrote after destroying a wee mousie's nest while he was ploughing a field. We make plans, but often things don't turn out the way we had planned.

At one stage in my training I thought I would end up being the minister of a suburban parish, located near the edge of some city like Edinburgh or Glasgow. I was looking to stay close to homne, or perhaps head West through to Glasgow.

Instead, my focus was drawn towards rural ministry, helping folk in the country to know our Creator God. So instead of heading West, soon I will be heading North.

I have been travelling on a journey with many twists and turns. It is hard to see the way ahead and to know what lies around the corners. But in following Jesus, I know that He is preparing the way ahead for me. It will not be too difficult or hard. Instead the ground has been prepared and in due course the harvest will be gathered in.

We may till the ground, plant seed, water gently, or clear away the weeds, but it is the Father who is the Gardener, who breathes his life into the crops, resulting in healthy plants bearing much fruit.

Allow God to direct your paths and to make you fruitful.