Guidance

I have a "Peanuts" daily calendar on my desk in my office at the church where I serve. I love reading the strip each and every day. Today's strip caught my eye: it's a strip where Charlie Brown has picked a flower with some petals on them. Beside him, is Linus (the strip's resident theologian) and he is watching Charlie Brown pull a petal off the flower one at a time. Each time he pulls a petal off Charlie Brown says, "She loves me. She loves me not." Just as Charlie Brown is about to finish, Linus says to him, "It is difficult for me to believe that a flower has the gift of prophecy."
After I finished reading the strip, I wondered to myself of where do people turn for guidance in their lives. Certainly not a flower, but what about horoscopes? A gut feeling, a hunch? With me, I usually start with myself (which I should know by now is not such a good idea) which sometimes work out, but there are too many times where it does not work out. It is then I wonder why I didn't start with God first or at least with those people that God has placed in my lives to help me along the way. God has been so faithful to me over the years that it should be second nature for me to turn to God anytime I need help and guidance with this life of mine. I have been especially blessed by God with a great group of friends who I can turn to anytime and any place and get the answer that will be best for me. It may not be the answer I am looking for, but I know it will be the best answer for me because that is what they want for me. I trust and believe in these people because I know they have the Spirit of the living God leading their lives and it is that same Spirit I want leading my life each and every day.
Maybe just maybe, one day with God's help, I will finally know where to turn without even thinking about it...

"Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understandings. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6