Last week our homeschool group took a field trip to a corn maze.  Being my first time through a corn maze I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect.  It was a learning experience.

Before we entered we were given a punch card and instructions.  The goal was to find the 12 stations and punch your card.  Each station had a map of the maze.  Each corn maze is in a shape; this particular one was a reindeer.  Each path was between 1 to 2 miles long but take into consideration that you might circle around quite a bit and back track some, it could be much longer.  If you’ve never been through one let me explain what it’s like.  First of all, there are acres and acres of corn.  I realize that’s probably not very surprising.  But what surprised me is that when you get into the field you cannot see anything but corn.  As you walk down the path there is corn to the right of you and corn to the left.  You can’t see over it or through it.  As you walk you have choices of different paths to take.  So you walk, make choices; walk some more, make more choices over and over again.  After sometime all the paths start looking the same.  After walking for what seemed like forever we finally found our first station…..it was number 6.  How we missed 1 through 5 I’ll never know.  We circled around, walked some more, went down different paths and found our second station…..number 8.  By this time I had decided that the parents who stayed back at the picnic tables must had come before and knew exactly what they were doing.  At one point we walked right up to a stairway and little bridge.  You could climb it and look out over the maze.  You couldn’t see it until you were right up on it.  By the next station (number 7) I had determined that the easiest way to get out of this maze was to try and back track the way I had came.  This helped and somehow we manged to make it out hot, tired and frustrated.

So….the lesson learned about corn mazes (other than they are not fun) came from my son.  He was running around the maze having a great time with all his friends. He was enjoying the journey and experiencing new things with each turn.  When he came out of the maze I noticed that most of his card was punched.  I asked him his secret.  He said, “Mom, when we came up to the first map we just took a picture of it with our cell phones and followed the map.”  Simple enough, why didn’t I think of that? 

You see, life can be just like that corn maze.  God has designed a picture.  He created it and he has placed each of us in the field.  We can’t see the whole picture but we know that it’s there.  One day, we’ll look down from the sky and say, “Oh, now I see it, it’s a reindeer.”  But now, here in the middle of the field we wander around making choices.  We go left, then we turn right, then we decide to back track.  All we can see is the corn.  We have access to the map.  It has everything laid out for our journey through life in it.  It has God’s perfect plan for our life and even has the outcome of it.  But, many times we ignore the map.  It takes too much time to memorize it or study it and it’s way too much trouble to carry it around, so we go on making our own decisions.  Occassionaly, we will stumble upon a stairway and little bridge.  There might even be someone up on it saying, “I can see the way, you need to go this way.”  Again, another choice we have to make.  Sometimes we listen; sometimes we don’t. 

There are times, as I’m traveling through the corn maze of life, that can be very frustrating.  I’ve come to a path…..I need to make a decision…..I wish I could see the outcome…..how do I move forward?…..what’s next?…..But I must remember, God knows.  He not only knows, but He has given me His map; His Holy Word.  He has not only given me His map, but He also wants to lead me down the path.  And not only does He want to lead me down the path but He wants to lead me down the path that takes me right to Him.  So, I walk, with my eyes on Him and getting closer and closer with each step ….. hoping …… obeying …… trusting.

Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.  (Pro 4:25-26)