You are Here

Thanks Ti.Mo!

I've always been somewhat fascinated by those mall maps that state "You are Here" in big letters with a star beside them or an arrow clearly pointing out your existence. Not over there, not that way, just here. Plain and simple. I like that feeling I get when I stand there looking at those information boards, because in that moment I have a sense of the bigger picture. Within the context of the mall, the chaotic comings and goings of busy shoppers, I know exactly where I am and why. For as long as I'm still staring at that map  I have all the facts I could ever need.

Life isn't like that.

In life, I don't have that map. I wander around wishing I did. But let's face it, I don't always know where I'm going. I don't have the big picture I wish I had or the understanding of the context in the way I want. Instead, I find myself overwhelmed by the things I don't know. How my story fits into the lives of others. Where I am in the chaotic comings and goings of a world I don't comprehend. My decisions, talents, words, and actions are one big mess of lines -unfamiliar roads in a past, present, and future of which I am mostly unaware. 

I can't always see where I'm going... I can't see where I'm going now. 

But just because I don't have that map, doesn't mean there isn't one. I don't have the satisfaction of reading those letters that spell out three very comforting words -"You are Here." But I have something better: the mapmaker lovingly whispering what I need to know into my ear.