Traipsing Through Life
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“Show me the path where I should go O Lord; point out the right road for me to walk.” Psalm 25:4
My dog, Annie, and I walk each day. Some days she walks with purpose and direction. She picks up the pace and is determined to finish the walk. Other days she meanders back and forth smelling different rocks, bushes, and places in the grass. The advantage Annie has is that I am with her to direct her path on the walk even though some days she resists my guidance. We always complete the walk no matter how fast or slow she walks.
Some days, we meander and some days we have direction and purpose in our lives. When we experience grief, loss, and changes, we feel we are traipsing through life. To traipse is to walk or move wearily or reluctantly without purpose or direction. This describes how we may feel on our current life path. We are tired and overwhelmed with decisions to make or even what direction to go. Some days we aimlessly go from one thing to another without completing any task or following through with our plan or list. We may wander from room to room knowing we need to accomplish some tasks, but it feels futile or at least too much right now.
We traipse through life for many reasons. We fear the unknown – what is around the corner or in our future. If we just knew what to expect and how it would turn out, we would take the next step into life. This is where faith enters life. We take a step without knowing and we trust that God is with us. If we mess up, we can learn from it and take a step in another direction. We want to know the end result before taking a step on a new path, so we just traipse along on the familiar but hopeless path.
We may also fear failure which keeps us just traipsing through life. What if we try and it does not work out? That’s OK because we at least tried something different, and we can learn from our failures. Failure is not fatal. It just means that it did not work out this time for you. We also fear what others will think and how they will view us. When we try to please others, we empty ourselves and feel overwhelmed trying to measure up to their expectations. This produces the fear of not being good enough. Fear is a liar.
We are afraid we may choose the wrong path and the path will not be what God desires for our life. So, we do nothing out of fear of disappointing God and others, and we just traipse aimlessly through each day. It feels like we have no clue as to what direction to go since everything in life is different. You had planned out your future, and now it has all changed. We think about doing something different, but we have worn a rut in this weary and aimless path. We keep trudging along in the emptiness, sadness, and living in the past memories. We may even at times go to the “poor me” victim mentality. Life has no meaning and purpose, and we fear it never will and we will wander aimlessly the rest of our existence.
Just like Annie, who resists my leading some days, we resist the leading of God. We may not even know how to follow God’s guidance on this path of life. Life is not what we had envisioned, but it is what we have. It is being still and trusting that God is with us even when we do not feel His presence. It is spending more time talking with God and trusting that He loves you and wants you to live with purpose. God can bring healing and hope out of our pain and brokenness. It will look different than expected. We may mess up, but God gives His grace. It is allowing God to lead. It is picking up the pieces and the pace. One step at a time and even doing it afraid. Let’s walk not traipse through life.
