The title of this post makes me laugh. In fact, my family will laugh also! I have NO internal compass. None. Zero. Zip. Nada. The gift of “navigational direction” was withheld from me – completely.

My favorite story to illustrate this is from the time my mom and I were headed from central Iowa straight across the state to a town not far from the Nebraska border. My dad told us that it was a very easy route, and there was only one little section to watch. Well, we were singing and laughing and talking, and apparently didn’t watch! Add to that the fact that my lack of good “navigational direction” is inherited from my mother, and you get two women who didn’t even KNOW they were lost! To this day we still recall the moment when we simultaneously read a billboard that read: “Welcome to Eagleville, Missouri!” For those of you with the ability to know directions, no, we did not know we were going south instead of west! Ooops!

While doing some packing, I found an old compass that I had used in a play I once directed. Perhaps because of the “direction-seeking” season I am currently experiencing, that little compass reminded me of some great truths last night.

I have two sisters and one brother and (this is my favorite part!) I am the youngest of the four of us. We have many similarities, but we also have very distinct personalities. At times I have said that we are “North, South, East, and West” in the way we do things, but that we still have a strong connection at the center of the compass. As I saw that little glass-encased compass last evening, it was the center of the compass that caused me to think of just how a compass functions. I went to “Wikipedia” (the “online encyclopedia”) for help in summarizing my explanation:

“A compass functions as a pointer to ‘magnetic north’ because the magnetized needle at its heart aligns itself with the lines of the Earth’s magnetic field. The magnetic field exerts a torque on the needle, pulling one end or pole of the needle toward the Earth’s North magnetic pole, and the other toward the South magnetic pole. The needle is mounted on a low-friction pivot point, . . . so it can turn easily. When the compass is held level, the needle turns until, after a few seconds to allow oscillations to die out, one end points toward the North magnetic pole.” – Wikipedia

The magnetized needle represents my parents. Guiding us. Teaching us. Uniting us as they pointed us to Christ and to the Word of God – the true Center of our home.

However, it is interesting to note that “the needle is mounted on a low-friction pivot point, . . . so it can turn easily.” I am thankful that my parents, while being the center of the compass, and accepting their God-given assignment to “point the way” for their children, were always aware that their children did not “belong” to them, but to God. They did not try to become a point on the compass themselves (they were, after all, the only ones who got to claim the title of “parents” – a ranking even higher than “friend!”), but accepted their positions in the center of the compass, teaching us and allowing us to “turn easily” to the places where we knew God was leading us.

This post is not written to praise my parents, though I am eternally grateful for their example and godly leadership in the home and in their vocational callings, but to remind each of us that we should keep eternal values at the center of the compass. The freedom that comes from loosely holding our families, our possessions, and even our dreams, allows us to follow joyfully wherever the compass leads!

Psalm 25:4-5 “Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.”

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