Photo by Erin Bowers

If there is one thing this self-proclaimed city girl has learned since moving to my small Northeast Texas town from DFW, there are lots of back roads to get lost on. Winding, curvy Farm-to-Market roads where texting is impossible, county roads that the locals don’t know the numbers of and give you landmark directions to; and dead-end roads that I will always find when I don’t know exactly where I’m going.

As a mom trying to impart some wisdom to my 21-year-old son, Matthew, and my daughters, Mandy, 23 and Kristin, 16, those back roads are a good reminder of the path that God wants us to take in life.

Matthew 7:13-14 shows us there is only one route in the GPS on your way to Heaven: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

They have all made the choice to follow that path, so I know their destination is secure, but I worry, of course, about them getting lost along the way. Their eyes roll back in their heads as soon as I start a sentence with, “When I was your age…”

But, what they can’t see now is that I have BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!

I am at a crossroads in my life, personally, professionally and spiritually. I lost my mom not long ago and have had a lot of time to think about what she and others in my life taught me and the destructive 4-lane highways and detours I took to get back to this place of narrow tree-covered roads. A warming glimmer of sunlight has found its way through the leaves, a reminder of God’s promise to never leave me. That’s the truth I want them to hold onto!

I hope that I have imparted lessons that will stay with them as they follow their dreams. I hope that I have taught them how to keep this narrow road in their sights. Will they hear a voice – possibly with a female British accent – saying “Re-calculating” or “Make a U-turn” when they veer off track in their lives?

I just have to trust that I have been the best mom I can be and that even with the “Crazy Lady” label they have so lovingly donned me with, they have learned to follow God’s path.

My prayer is that if they veer off the roadway, take a detour, miss the exit and have to make a U-turn – my signature move – or find one of those hopeless dead ends, they will turn on God’s GPS and always find their way home to these narrow back roads.