Life’s Squiggly Wigglees

Psalm 32:8

⁸I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.

I’ve experienced them, and I’m sure you have as well: those sudden curves and twists in the road of life. Recently we traveled along a mountain road and as we neared a sharper curve, the posted sign warned us that the road ahead would be curvy for a few more miles. It was.

When I saw the highway sign I knew what to expect but I also had another picture. It wasn’t a picture of the road I was actually driving on. It was a picture of how our lives seem to be from time to time. Not every event in our lives goes smoothly, nor does each of our steps always follow a straight line. Sometimes there are turns, stops, and maybe even a lot of curves in our travels through life. You may start out heading in one direction with a course of study in school and somewhere down the line change your study which is like a rather sharp or hairpin curve. You may start with one job for a while and then find yourself looking for something else—yet another curve ahead.

When I’ve driven with my grandchildren, especially when they were little, and we’d be on curvy stretches of road, I’d tell them these are the squiggly wigglees. Of course they loved that meaning. (I even incorporated the term on a board game I made for them that they still enjoy playing).

Let’s be honest. Many times we don’t like the squiggly wigglees. They’re too uncertain. They don’t take us where we want to go right then. Sometimes they seem to just slow us down too much because we’d rather have the open highway where we can speed on ahead. That’s when we need to remind ourselves that our steps are ordered of the Lord (Proverbs 3:6, 16:9; Isaiah 30:21). Maybe the squiggly wigglees are there for a reason. Maybe it’s time to slow down, have patience, and wait for the Lord’s direction.

Whether you’re on a main straight highway or on the squiggly wiggley curves, keep your focus on Jesus and no matter how the road curves, He’ll be there with you and make sure you reach your destination.