“At the next corner make a legal U-turn,” my GPS squawked at me.

When I flew past the “next corner,” the same reprimand came through once again but this time annunciating little more forcefully and with stern authority (Now you see why I call her Pearl, the “dash witch”.

At last I won the road battle and Pearl was forced to give in to my way of arriving at our destination. She waived the white flag of surrender as she explained her silence, “Re-Calculating”.

It’s not just Pearl who has to re-calculate, but we too. We THINK we have a destination in mind. We’ve mapped out our goals and strategies starting out with firm determination and high hopes.

But like Pearl, all of us have to constantly re-examine the course of our lives. We may miss an opportunity. Our lives may swerve unintentionally. We wonder where do we go from here? How do we get there?

Our lives are in a constant building process, rerouting our journey. When one phase is done, another has to begin.

So how does God teach and guide us as our inner building proceeds? Usually very quietly but always persistently because most of us are slow learners. God teaches us without words.

Sometimes through sadness calling us to share our gifts. Sometimes through uneasiness the Lord may be pulling us in a different direction. And sometimes through our joy the Lord may be saying, “You got it right! Good for you!”

Always our Lord is there, quietly teaching, probing and showing us the way. But are we learning? Sometime not! Partly because we’re not paying attention and partly because we often mistake our own voice for God’s voice.

If we want the happy life that God wants for us, we have to learn to listen to what God is trying to teach us. (Be quiet on the inside, turning off the chatterbox.) It means putting aside our fears and all those “certitudes” that can distort what we can hear from God, or ever prevent us from hearing anything at all.

So as God takes over as our Inner Guidance System let’s try not to circumvent his greater plan. Let make certain that we are listening and learning!

Lord, take the wheel!