Detour Signs

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What is your immediate reaction when you see a detour sign? “Oh, no!” “I’m going to be late!”  “Not again!”  Typical reasons for a detour include: Road construction, flooded area ahead, road or bridge is washed out or inaccessible, on-coming traffic ahead, or an accident blocks the way.

Complaining about the inconvenience does not remove the detour, nor does it change the fact that the detour was provided as a safety precaution.

“Detour” might be a figurative way of looking at your own experiences of the past 6 to 12 months.  What has caused you to detour, deviate, take a less direct way regarding your “usual” planned routine.  You might ask yourself:

  • What has flooded my life that is not nourishing or helpful? How is “flood-water” hampering my journey? Where is my boat?

  • What “bridge” has been washed out of my life?  Am I being called to reconstruct that bridge in the same place, or build it elsewhere, or leave it dismantled?

  • Has there been an “accident” - an unexpected circumstance that leaves me wounded (body or mind) – something I don’t know how to heal?  How and of whom will I ask for help to gain perspective and healing of this?

  • Am I headed in a direction that is leading me off-course so that I’m heading into “on-coming traffic?”

Viewing some events in live as detours can help you gain a new perspective of your life’s experiences.  Otherwise, you may find yourself simply “complaining in the desert” day after day about the unexpected, rather than creating an opportunity to gain some insight for your growth.  I’m not suggesting that you move into a false sense of reality, nor a covered-over view of hardships that happen. I’m talking about remembering that Our God is greater than any situation that results in a detour.  I’m talking about remembering that our God loves you with an everlasting, ever-present love.   

Gather the fragments of your complaining and let them go.  Perhaps the words of Arthur Ashe will help: “Start where you are.  Use what you have.  Do what you can.”  May the God who loves you beyond all telling, give you guidance, encouragement, peace and wisdom as you continue moving forward during any detour you encounter on your Journey.   – Jackie Freitas