Reflector on a Stick

On the dirt/gravel road that winds in the country toward our house and not much else, there are small sticks with round reflectors on top spaced out in a seemingly random scattered pattern. I see them everyday as I drive in and out of our driveway, and down the road to civilization.

I realized a bit of the importance of these sticks when driving home on a moonless night. It is quite dark out where we are. I might even say it is pitch black. I know the curves in the road, but the car lights reflecting on the round reflectors on the sticks, lit up the reflectors like a runway making the edges of the road much easier to see. It was very helpful.

Then, I had an evening following a big snow. The plows could not keep up with the snow (especially on our road-- since we are not exactly high priority). The reflectors had been nice in the darkness, but they now became critical to my ability to stay on the road. I could tell now why they were placed where they were. They were on curves, in spots with pretty good sized ditches on the sides of the road, and of course on our fence posts on either side of our driveway. The placement was NOT random-- it was strategic. I relied totally on those sticks with reflectors to get home. The road and landscape was unrecognizable, and I would have had no idea where the road even was without them.

There was one odd thing as I drove, however. I was focusing on the lights when I saw a random light out of the grouping. My brain tried to figure out quickly where the road was going. It turns out that it was a reflector on a electrical pole quite a ways off of the road. Who would do that?!? If the others hadn't been in the right spots, I would've followed that reflector and ended up in the snow-filled ditch and on into a field.

Those silly reflectors had gone from curious, to nice, to necessary for survival. It makes me think of how I handle the truths from the Bible. They are sometimes fine to look at and to think about, and sometimes they are downright helpful like the reflectors in the dark. But, their real purpose in revealed when we are in crisis. When our own faculties and ways to figure out the road are blurred by the storms around us, we have to rely on them for our very survival. Along the way, there may also be random other things that look like the truth that distract us and can easily get us off course.

I have come to love those reflectors and have an appreciation I never had in the summer and fall. In the winter cold and storms, they became precious. I hope I will do the same with the living and active Word of God. It is vital and I often discount that in my day to day journey on the road of life when things are moving along fine. May I rely on the truths of the Bible in the times of ease just as much as in the times of blinding storms.

Hebrews 12:2 "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."