Wondering about Wandering

      I used to go snowboarding at least 3 times a year, but then as I got into high school sports it wasn’t really an option to go anymore. Finally, for the first time in almost 6 years, I had the chance to go snowboarding again. Needless to say I was rusty at first, but as the day went on I started to pick up the snowboarding skills I had lost (I never really had much skill in the first place, but I was able to end the day without physically harming myself or anyone else for that matter).

            My one day of snowboarding last week reminded me of one of my previous snowboarding experiences. I don’t remember all the details, but I remember enough to give you a brief overview. My friend and I were snowboarding, and we weren’t necessarily cocky, but we did think we were a lot more talented then we actually were. This attitude, along with our tenacious childhood spirits, motivated us to go on a higher skill level ski run. We had done it a couple times, even attempting to “get air” on some of the jumps. Each time we got just a little bit braver. Eventually we came across a side trail that we had never been on before. Without wavering, we started snowboarding right down that tiny trail that was carefully constructed between rows of towering pine trees. About 50 yards down the trail, this path started to seem incredibly ‘sketchy.’ But with nowhere else to board, we kept on going. Less than 1 minute later, the trail came to a stop. There was a huge pile of snow and a tractor blocking the way down the rest of the slope. There was no way around it, and there was no way that my friend and I had the skill to snowboard through the trees, let alone would we be able to find our way back down the mountain.

            We came to the conclusion that we were lost. Even though we were only about 100 yards off of the main trail, nonetheless we felt incredibly hopeless. Our eyes watered up as we decided that the only way out was to unbind our boots from our boards and hike up the mountain until we got back to the main ski slope. The task seemed awfully grueling. We kept hiking and made it back to the main trail, sat down, and started screaming for help from anyone that we saw. Did we really need any real help? No… no we definitely did not. We were back out in the open on the main trail, not at all injured, and not at all lost… but we were so worked up that we failed to realize those facts. We put our boards back on and were sitting right in the middle of the main slope that we had gone down tens of times that day, but we still thought we were doomed to a slow death freezing on that mountain.

            Yes, we were just dramatic 6^th graders, but we seriously were scared out of our minds. Even though we were on the main trail and all we had to do was snowboard around one corner to get back to the ski lodge, we still gave up all hope. Looking back at this time in my life, it is actually quite a humorous story. But I can tell you that in that moment, I was seriously scared for my life.

            So now if you’re wondering if there is a point to this story… of course there is!

 Have you ever felt this kind of feeling of hopelessness and feeling completely lost in life? Obviously I have, but not just this one time snowboarding. I have felt like this many times with trying to figure out where to go to college, what to major in, who I want to be, and etc. And many, many times when I experienced these feelings, there was often a simple answer and many other reasons to hope standing right in front of me.

            But so often when something unexpected pops up and gets in the way of the path I’m going down, I freeze up and become completely pessimistic. Even if there is a solution right around the corner, I become so frustrated and stressed that I completely lose sight of any hope and all the answers stay hidden in the dark.

            When my 13 year old self freaked out for no reason, I lost sight of the right way down the mountain, even though I was still on the main trail and actually wasn’t lost at all. I think this exact thing happens in life all the time. But instead of freaking out and immediately clouding out all of our optimism, we have to learn how to remain calm and look for the simple solutions that are often right in front of us.

 If you feel lost, maybe you aren’t really lost after all. Maybe you are just on your way to something truly great right around the corner. Like J.R.R. Tolkien wrote,

 “Not all those who wander are lost.”          
 

So don’t be afraid of having to wander or wonder. Maybe you are wondering where to go to college, maybe you are wandering around trying to find a place where you belong, maybe you’re wondering what comes next in your life, or maybe you are just wandering around because you don’t have a GPS handy and you are legitimately lost. Whatever it may be, don’t fear the unknown and don’t give up hope, because you never know what God has in store around the corner.