Braving the Wilderness is not always about being in a particular place. The wilderness can be a time in your life. A time that is challenging as well as a time of change. These times can include the death of a loved one, a separation or divorce, losing a job, finding out you have an illness, moving from the family home into a care facility.
The list goes on and on to anything that takes you out of the life you once trusted and sends you into the wilderness, into the unknown. The place where you now find yourself. It can be a lonely, empty space where you are not sure what to do next.
Everyone goes through these periods of wilderness in their lives. Because that is what life is. Change. But sometimes, we are not expecting those things that happen to us and we are unprepared for what we are to do next. It can be very puzzling at times!
In the New and Old Testament, the word wilderness can mean a period of being in the desert. It is a place of preparation, and it represents a time of waiting direction. These are the times in our lives that are times of testing, waiting, discovery, exploration, anticipation and learning. We can come away from a wilderness time with positive experiences as well as new insight into what we would like our lives to be.
C.S. Lewis says ‘As we move along the paths of our lives, we can be assured that as we go down a certain path, we will eventually come to a fork in the path. After a few miles, the path forks into two directions again, and each of those into two more. At each such fork, we must make a choice.’
The choices we make at each fork in the path can lead us in the desired direction as we travel through a wilderness time. We may not know which way to go for certain, however, we still have to take responsibility for the choices we make at each fork in the path.
I must admit that each time I have had adventures in braving the wilderness, I have come away from each experience with something unexpected. Often when we go through the wilderness times, we will come out the other side with new and positive interactions. New ideas, ideas we would never have thought of if we had not gone through a tough time. No one wants to stay in those tough times all the time because life is meant to be better than that.
The important thing to remember when you are beginning a wilderness time in your life is to trust in who you are. In whose you are. Who do you belong to? Who represents the community around you that wants to help you through this time? Who is the light that is shining in your life that wants to help you along the way? Trust in your identity. Know what you stand for. If you can do those things, you will be just fine.
The wilderness can be a dangerous place. Our first reaction is not always the best. And sometimes, we have to go back to the last fork in the path and choose a different direction. Sometimes we just need to find fresh ground to see the road ahead & be ready to change course.
If you are in a wilderness time of your life right now, know that you have people who care about you and will be there for you. We don’t need to do everything alone. Reach out and don’t be afraid to be upfront with folks. You just might be surprised how helpful some people will be.
I always remind myself that I am NOT the only one who has gone through a wilderness time such as this. Many others have gone through exactly the same although we all do it differently.
Hang in there no matter where you are in life.
Until next time. Be safe.