Follow The Leader

I was sitting at the gate waiting on my connection to come home, facing the window, when the moment unfolded right in front of me.

A plane had just landed and needed to pull into the gate. I watched as the ground personnel took his position on the tarmac, ear muffs on, indicators in both hands, completely focused and ready. There was nothing casual about the way he stood. He was deliberate. He was prepared. He knew exactly what he was there to do.

The plane began to move toward the gate and the ground personnel began to wave and direct, guiding that massive aircraft into position. The plane followed every signal. Every movement of those indicators told the pilot which way to go and when to stop. The plane responded and it trusted the direction completely.

What struck me in that moment was not just how precise it all was. It was how necessary it was.

That pilot, sitting inside the cockpit of that aircraft with all of his training and all of his experience, could not see what the man on the ground could see. The angle was wrong. The view was blocked. There were things happening outside that plane that the pilot simply had no access to from where he was sitting. He had blind spots. Real ones. Ones that could have cost him dearly if he had decided to navigate that final stretch on his own.

He needed the guide on the ground, not because he was incapable, but because no amount of skill eliminates the blind spots that come with your position.

I sat there at that window and felt something shift in me. All of that training, all of that experience, all of that capability, and still, the pilot could not see what the man on the ground could see. I thought about how often I show up the same way. Confident. Ready. Certain I have everything I need. The truth is, I have blind spots too. We all do.

Can I ask you something honestly?

Is there an area of your marriage, your motherhood, or your faith where you have been trying to navigate on your own? Where you have been moving forward with confidence, but without direction? Where you have been relying on your own view of the situation without pausing to consider what you might not be able to see from where you are standing?

What if the delay is not a setback? What if it is God, standing on the ground in front of you, trying to get your attention before you move another inch in the wrong direction?

Scripture Reflection

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
~Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)

This scripture is really a navigation system. It is God saying, I can see what you cannot see from where you are sitting. I know the path. I know what is ahead. Trust Me enough to follow My direction, even when your own instincts are telling you something different.

Heart Truths

There is something humbling about watching a plane that size submit to the direction of one person on the ground. That aircraft had more power, more technology, and more capability than anything standing on that tarmac. Yet it followed every signal without hesitation.

Here is what that moment taught me about the paths we walk as women in our marriages, our homes, and our faith.

Your path was predetermined before you arrived. The gate was already assigned. The path to get there was already mapped. The pilot did not have to figure out where to go. He simply had to follow the direction to get to a place that had already been prepared for him. God works the same way. Before you arrived in this season of your marriage, this chapter of your motherhood, this moment of your faith, He had already mapped the path. Your job is not to figure out the destination. Your job is to follow the direction, his direction.

Skill and experience do not eliminate blind spots. The pilot was not a student. He was trained, qualified, and experienced. None of that gave him the ability to see what the ground personnel could see from outside the aircraft. In the same way, the wisdom you have gathered, the years you have put in, and the strength you carry do not remove the places where your view is limited. God sees your marriage from the outside. He sees your home from a vantage point you do not have access to. His direction is not a correction. It is a gift.

Following direction is not weakness. It is wisdom. The pilot did not resist the ground personnel out of pride. He did not decide that because he had flown hundreds of planes he no longer needed a guide for the last few feet. He received the direction with the full weight of his experience behind him and arrived safely. There is a version of wisdom that knows when to listen. That is the version God is inviting us into.

Moving without direction costs more than waiting for it. Imagine if that pilot had decided to pull into the gate on his own, trusting his instincts over the signals from the ground. The consequences could have been minor. They also could have been catastrophic. When we move in our marriages, our relationships, and our decisions without pausing to receive God's direction, we risk the same. Time is lost. Trust is broken. Damage happens that did not have to happen.

Loving Well in Action

Receiving direction requires a posture of humility and surrender, especially in the relationships closest to us. Here are three ways to practice it this week:

1. Identify your blind spots in your relationships. Ask yourself honestly where your view might be limited. Is there a dynamic that you keep approaching the same way and getting the same frustrated result? That may be a blind spot. Ask God to show you what He sees in that space that you cannot see on your own.

2. Pause before you move. This week, before you make a significant decision in your home, your relationship, or your faith, stop and ask for direction. Not just a quick prayer as you walk through the door, but a genuine moment of surrender where you say, Lord, I cannot see everything from where I am standing. Show me what you see. Then wait long enough to actually listen.

3. Let your people speak into your blind spots. One of the gifts of close relationships is that the people who know you best see you from a vantage point nobody else has. This week, create space for them to share what they observe, without defending yourself or explaining it away. Receive it the way that pilot received those signals, trusting that the person with the different view might be seeing something important.

A LoveNote

If you are married, here is a love note that you can write for your husband:

I do not always see what you see. I know that. There are places in our life together where your view is clearer than mine, and I have not always made it easy for you to share that with me. I want to do better. I want to be the kind of wife who receives your perspective with grace, who trusts that what you see from where you stand matters, and who believes that we navigate this life better together than either of us ever could alone. Thank you for standing on the ground for me when I cannot see what is ahead. I love you.

Your LoveNote Challenge

This week, I want you to write a note to someone who is walking a road that looks a little different from everyone around them, and that someone might be you.

This week I want you to write a note to someone whose direction you have been resisting, ignoring, or simply forgetting to ask for.

📧  It might be a note to your husband, thanking him for the ways he has tried to guide and support you even when you did not make it easy.

📧  It might be a note to God, surrendering a decision or a direction you have been trying to navigate entirely on your own.

📧  It might even be a note to yourself, giving your heart permission to release the need to see everything clearly before you take the next step.

Write it honestly. Write it with open hands. Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is simply acknowledge that we do not have to do this alone.

If you are looking for a beautiful and simple way to make note writing a consistent practice in your marriage, visit www.dailylovenotekit.com. It was created to help you say what matters, to the person who matters most consistently and with love.

Finish With Intention

You were not designed to navigate this alone. Not your marriage. Not your motherhood. Not the quiet, weighty decisions that keep you up at night. You were designed to be guided, the way that aircraft was guided, by someone who can see what you cannot, who knows the path before you arrive on it, and who will not let you miss the gate if you are willing to follow the signal.

The ground personnel was not standing on that tarmac hoping the pilot would figure it out. He was there on purpose, in position, ready to direct.

God is the same way with you. Look up. He is already signaling. All you have to do is follow.

P.S. Download your copy of Love Him Well: The Daily Love Note Kit. Available now at www.dailylovenotekit.com.