Signposts

Life provides a series of signposts, most of which I seem to ignore.  The lessons of yesterday have already been lost or overlooked.  The warnings of today pass idly by as if everyone is blind or ignorant of their meaning.  Even future promises and forecasts are treated as if they are a child’s scribbles.  Each sign, relevant and insightful in its own way, ignored as I rush down life’s steps.  Potential disasters are embraced instead of being circumvented.  It is as if life’s signposts have no meaning, at least not any I can understand.
 
The simple challenge rests on two distinct levels.  First, you and I must struggle to acknowledge they are really there.  I know this sounds easy but it is not.  Acknowledgment involves more then just seeing and categorizing.  Knowing involves anticipation – being on the look-out for any possible appearance.  When one sees a signpost it must be experienced and understood.  We naturally think we understand, yet again this is always more than just bring the facts to mind.  Understanding involves an awareness of meaning, implications, and use.  Experiencing takes it to the next level – one of seeing the signpost in context of the community, your life and mine.
 
The second level rests on action.  Signposts must generate a decision.  They provide additional information, guidance, and on occasion warnings.  We must decide, even if the decision is to continue on as before.  There is no option for ignoring or ignorance.  We have freedom.  We hold the options for the future.  We now have help along the way.
 
When one community focused internally – proud, arrogant, and confidence – the signposts which followed were clear.  “‘I will confront them’—Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies— ‘and strip Babylon of name and survivors, children and grandchildren.’  God's Decree.  ‘I'll make it a worthless swamp and give it as a prize to the hedgehog.  And then I'll bulldoze it out of existence.’  Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.” (Isaiah 14.22, 23)  And yet they did not change.
 
Today will be full of signposts.  Observe, listen, understand, and reflect; then act.  It’s our right and destiny.