When the Maps You Trusted Are Wrong

 What do you do when the map you’ve been following doesn’t match the reality of the path in front of you? There’s a bridge under construction in my town that my GPS insists I should be able to cross. It’s kind of a shock to notice that the guidance you’ve been relying on is suddenly unreliable. Once, wondering if the phone knew something I didn’t, I walked right up to the gap only to confirm there was still a big construction site where the bridge used to be. But the software companies that make the map are far away, and here I stand, looking at an active construction site and an uncrossable bridge.

Trusting your senses is a good place to start. We are living in a time when many of the maps that have been guiding us haven’t caught up to the changes in the terrain we are trying to travel. So many aspects of our lives, of our communities, are “under construction” right now- and the ways we’ve always done things are simply not available. I talk with many folks who struggle with the gap between what they feel they should be able to do, and what is actually possible in this moment. Perhaps it’s something they were always able to do that now exhausts their changing body. Perhaps it’s a goal at work or at a volunteer organization that seems achievable but yet is always out of reach. It can be disturbing when an outcome is simply not available right now, while your map insists it should be possible. Maybe it is not you who are wrong, maybe it is the map.

How can you tell? Sometimes you don’t have a whole construction crew waving orange flags to make things clear. If you can resume your journey with a little detour, perhaps it’s easier and quicker just to take that other path going to the same goal without giving it too much thought. Sometimes it’s worth getting curious and investigating. What is the nature of the obstacle? How long might it take to clear? Is there something I could do to help? If a trashcan has blown over into the sidewalk, a moment of attention could quickly clear the path for everyone.

Sometimes we need to pull over and make a new plan. When we are talking not about literal paths, but about finding a life path, a spiritual path that we can travel with integrity, compassion and a sense of calling in the world it can be worth metaphorically pulling over to the side of the road and taking some time for discernment. Long ago, my partner worked for a company that was releasing an early GPS device. We had a beta test version that he used to write instructions, and we put it in the car. One day I was driving to a new place, and the road the GPS suggested changed to a dirt road. Hmmm. Then the dirt road got bumpy and rutty in the rain, then it turned into a bike path. I had to back up through the drenching rain and mud until I was back on solid ground again. I took a breath, turned around and found a new path.

Discernment is a way of making decisions that uses our whole self -- heart, mind, body and soul. It is a way of making decisions that also includes that which is greater than ourselves, be that the Spirit, the Universe, the community of beings. It is a way of deciding that takes a long view and a deep view and arrives at a conclusion that is harmonious for our whole being.

Once we have chosen our path, and begin moving along it, discernment continues to happen all along our journey. Discernment is not just about the big choices, this career or that one, this place to live or that one. We make big and little decisions all the time in life, for as long as we live. Each day we are invited to discern step by step the path we make by walking.

Discernment is not just about moving towards what feels good, or easy. For example, part of ministry is being with people who are struggling, being with our challenges as a community and as a world. There’s a certain way I feel when I know that something is the right thing to do, even when it is hard. I sense that staying on the hard path will matter, that it will connect me to something sacred, to the deep parts of myself, to the person I most want to be.

A blessing to all of us right now who are finding our path is blocked, that the way we hoped to travel is not available, that our map is unreliable. It’s frustrating, disorienting and sometimes scary. I wish you the wisdom to trust the reality you are experiencing, the wisdom to discern your path, faith that a way will open, and trustworthy friends and guides to support you on your way.