There is a new interstate overpass and exit near our home. We pass by it frequently, but have only used it once. This frustrates my six-year-old daughter significantly. 

"Mommy, let's take the new bridge!" Julia exclaims. I explain each time why driving over that new patch of roadway is not necessary, but with no success. She is disappointed every time. 

The last time we passed it, she asked a different question, "Mommy, why don't you like the new bridge?" 

"I don't dislike it, Julia. In fact, I wonder why you like it so much," I replied. 

"Because it feels safe, Mommy," she said quickly. "It's new and wide and clean. There are no holes and it's prettier than our old roads." 

Her all-girl response made me smile at her in the rearview mirror. I could not disagree with that, but a lesson was afoot for both of us. 

"It doesn’t take us anywhere we need to be today," I said. "When we’re trying to get somewhere, we don't take a road just because it's new and wide and clean. We take the roads that help us get where we're going, even if they are old, narrow and dirty. Otherwise, we'd just be driving around and never getting anywhere." 

My reply satisfied Julia, but convicted me. 

As a mom, I sometimes feel as if I'm randomly taking exits and on-ramps in my mothering journey. I'm always trying new things, but am I really getting anywhere? In fact, do I even know where I want to go? 

It's time to stop evaluating the road I'm on by its condition, start figuring out where it is I need to be and if the road I'm on can get me there.

Dear God, direct my child to seek good, knowing that you will be with her wherever she goes. Amos 5:14

"Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live:

and so the LORD, the God of hosts,

shall be with you, as ye have spoken."

Amos 5:14

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