On my recent travels, I was in Puerto Rico and was attempting to navigate my way around one of the cities using an app on my Iphone. The destination on this certain evening was a restaurant that for some reason was not coming up when I did a search for it in this GPS tool. I spent 30 minutes attempting and re-attempting to find the destination in the app several different ways and eventually marked a point on the map that I hoped would be closest to where I needed to go.
After clicking “Navigate”, I soon was off on a 4 mile drive being guided by my digitally based English speaking friend. About 10 minutes later the cheerful voice said I had arrived at my destination. Puerto Rico is interesting in that the streets, in the downtown cities, are a lot of one-ways. On top of that, everything is in Spanish which I don’t speak or read making it that much more difficult for me. And even worse, street signs aren’t on every corner. As the navigation ended, I noticed I had just passed an ice cream shop that I had seen online and wanted to check out. I made a mental note and took a left at the next street to look for a place to park and see if I could find any more information out on my phone’s internet. My pulse quickened slightly and I began to get frustrated. I told myself I should have just stayed at the hotel and had something to eat there. After about 10 minutes of causing myself anxiety and not finding any further help on the internet, I took a deep breath, told myself that God would help me find it and then looked straight ahead to figure out where to go next. There on the next corner was the sign for the entrance to the restaurant I was looking for. Even funnier, across the street was a church that I had also seen online and wanted to get a picture of while I had ventured out. I chuckled realizing that all three places I had planned on going to were within a block of where I was parked. I then thought how this has happened a lot in my life.
Have you ever been searching for anything so intently like a restaurant, some other destination, or maybe something that you lost in your house such as your keys and no matter how hard you try, it seems to evade you?
I realized the other day that sometimes by just slowing down or in my case pulling to the side of the road and pausing for a moment, that what I’m looking for is right in front of me. An even better realization is that for years I searched for happiness again and again through many different things around me and never did find it. When I stopped searching, started meditating and praying, and seeking to live a life that God would want me to be living, I began feeling the happiness within.
It’s so easy to get caught up in distress when looking for something so diligently in life. I have found that what we are looking for is usually right in front of us or within us. Sometimes all it takes to find it, is some slowing down and asking God for help.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson