Lift Up Your Head

"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love...

for to you I lift up my soul." 

 Psalm 143:8

I never enter a corn maze alone.

Not for fear of scarecrows or spiders that might lurk there, but because of endless trails which threaten to engulf me into obscurity, digesting me in the belly of a field.  None the less, excited and confident of the way we should go, I recently entered a corn maze with my family.

But what started hopeful began to wear thin with frustration.  We had already circled the same area once, then twice, even going back to the beginning and trying again.  We had the map.  What was wrong?  Certainly the map.  But we couldn't bring ourselves to exit at the entrance.  This maze would be conquered!

Hot, tired, and low on zeal we finally gave up and decided to chill out and follow our instincts.  I don't know what it is about a man's sense of direction, but somehow they just know.  Suddenly my husband had found our way out with ease . . . at the exit.

This same phenomena occured again last weekend, not in a corn field, but in life.  I've been working on a project for several months. . . a maze I entered with confidence and excitement, sure that if I just followed the rules I could find my way out.  I thought it should all make sense, but in the midst of it began trying too hard.  It became a part of my life where I'd grit my teeth and seek to conquer, its weighted shadow always looming over me . . . laughing, mocking, accusing.  I was advised to go in a direction that did not make sense to me.  I resisted the advice thinking I knew better.  But things are not always as they seem.

Lift up your head.

Surrender. 
Release the desire to do things your way.
Stop making excuses...
resisting... complaining. 

Then . . . it all fell into place.  

"What do you want me to do for you?"  Jesus asks the blind man. 

(Luke 18:40) 

Jesus met me in my "maze" of frustration.

"I am blind", I cry out, "I just want to see!  

Show me the way . . . if you are willing."

"I am willing", Jesus replies.  He has been eager all along to lead me through this maze to its finish . . .but am I?  It requires sacrifice . . . wounded pride. Am I ready for God to finish what He's started even if it hurts?  Even if it requires such total dependence on Him . . . such need on my part?

Am I willing?

"I will not sacrifice...that which costs me nothing."  (2 Sam. 24:24)

I know the maze is simple from above, but in the midst of it I cannot see.  I get claustrophobic.  I've tried and tried but cannot find my way through.  I've even gone back to the beginning and started over.

But this weekend I looked up.  I followed the lead of the Holy Spirit and the thoughts in my heart flowed freely to my pen with overwhelming ease . . . completing in two days that which I'd labored over for three months.

God wants to draw me close to His heart.  If the process gets me to that place, then it has accomplished its purpose, even if the exit is never found.  If this is what it takes to get me to trust Him, then so be it.

I cannot see, but I trust the One who can.
He will do it, because He is willing.