I was driving home last night when I came across an interesting sight: a white, plastic lawn chair sitting forlornly on the side of the highway. It was properly placed on all four legs, but it must have blown out of someone's pickup bed. Still, it was eery to see it just sitting there, at least a mile from the nearest farm, three feet back on the shoulder facing the highway. Certainly no one would walk way out there just to watch traffic whiz by?
I only had a few seconds to realize what it was when my headlights illuminated it and before I was past it, but I spent most of the rest of the drive pondering it.
If a chair is not being used, it's not fulfilling its purpose.
If it's in a place where no one would wish to sit in it, what is it worth? Its function has been removed; its purpose for being is absent. It still looks like a chair, but can it even be called that if no one can sit in it? I mean, isn't that what we do with chairs? And if no one can sit in it, what is its function? Does it have one?
It reminded me of confusion in my own life.
If I am in a place where my goals are unclear, can I be useful? If I am living in the tension of what was and what will be, how do I cope with what is now?
More frighteningly, if I miss my "calling" and end up on the proverbial side of the highway, far removed from my purpose or mission, what am I worth? Am I still "Me" as I know myself?
Thankfully, I'm not currently in a place where I'm questioning my calling. I can look back on my life and see how those "side of the road" experiences were actually part of the journey to get where I am now.
Recognizing this gives hope for the areas of my life which still feel out of touch with my intrinsic purpose. Then the question becomes: can I wait patiently on the Lord (staying diligent in the things He has given me to do) while expecting Him to act, to bring it all together in His good time, and to let me know if I'm terribly off track?
Off track like a lawn chair on the shoulder of the highway.
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