HE DIDN’T MEAN TO DO IT
The three of us headed out to the walnut orchard to move sprinkler pipe. This task involved lifting and carrying 25 foot metal joints of sprinkler pipe from one tree middle over to the next set some sixty feet away. The pipes are hooked together to form a long pipeline lateral from the mainline T-valve down to the end of the row. We move pipe every-other weekend throughout the summer.

Whoever is at home helps out. We each have our favorite lines to move. I took the farthest two lines of pipe.  It was a HOT day in the triple digits. I was almost finished with my lines when one of my sons came over to talk with me.

My son had that look that says trouble’s coming. Something’s up, I thought to myself.

He said that his brother hadn’t noticed which direction the lines were supposed to go.  For an hour he had been moving the pipe in the wrong direction. Bummer! Now we would have to re-do the lines, retrace the walking distance plus the additional steps to the correct tree middle making it thrice the walking distance.  I felt like scolding or venting but that isn’t in my nature.  Instead, we decided who would do what to make it as painless as possible and to limit wasting time.

No one considered leaving the extra work to the one who had made the error. I was thirsty, thinking about that chilled soda in the fridge. My water bottle was empty. There wasn’t enough time to take a break or even get more water, we were in a time crunch. My two sons and I hunkered down and worked together, no one scolding or complaining. I appreciated everyone’s attitude. We finished just before dark. Whew!

Déjàvu. While I was working to help my sons, I remembered back to another occasion when I had to move all the lines of pipe by myself. On that day, I moved the longest of all the lines in the wrong direction.  It was a pain to redo that line in addition to all the other lines. It was exhausting. Then I remembered back when my other son had done the same thing. He was so disgusted, that he had created more work for himself. I jumped in to help him out, when, in reality, I really wanted to quit and be done with it. 

I started thinking about life and the many wrong turns we make.

A UNIVERSAL EXPERIENCE COMMON TO LIFE
I suppose we have all been there. Good intentions but wrong direction. We think we are doing it right and doing it well, when we really are heading in the wrong direction. Digging out of that hole, back tracking, and setting it straight, is not pleasurable nor welcome. The tendency is to scold ourselves and even others for our own stupidity or actions. How could we have been so blind? We gave it our best shot but it wasn’t right. Those “if only’s.” If only we had noticed, paid attention or looked closer before starting we could have saved ourselves a lot of grief. It’s like driving north when you’re supposed to be heading south and not realizing it for an hour or two! I know people who have headed the wrong direction on a road trip, only to discover it many many miles later.

Heading a wrong direction in life can be painful:  broken dreams, fruitless career choices, poor financial decisions, or changing your major in college late in the game.

We hate it. Time, effort and money wasted. It rankles. Even choices we think are God-designed can be that way. Later they become a dead-end. We head in a direction that seems right, feels right, and everything is going smoothly until we realize it is not the right direction. We can invest years or money in something that is not productive or beneficial. It takes time to recover from these things. There is always a measure of regret that accompanies these wrong turns. Some residual collateral damage is sustained, stuff that we have to let go of to head in another direction to pursue a new course of action.

TURN THE THING AROUND
It takes tenacity and human determination to set ourselves back on the right path.

Success stories abound of people who were on a no-win track to no-where fast. They were in desperate straits until they finally found their groove, found their purpose, mission in life or better idea. Instead of quitting when the going got rough or nearly impossible, they had the good sense to stop, take a look at their situation, and then step up to start anew—this time in the right niche for them.

It is not easy to regroup and make up for lost ground. It takes courage, human will and effort. Sometimes people have no choice but to change directions. Other times it is a personal choice. A new direction becomes a way that brings purpose and meaning to their existence. Some leave positions of power and prestige to serve in places that are deemed lowly by the world. I have read about these people in magazines, changing directions mid-stream and finding it to be the better choice, the grand purpose of their life.

From my city, I know of a highly-respected successful surgeon and his wife, a nurse, who moved to Africa to offer their expertise at a mission hospital, serving the poorest of poor in the region. In doing so, he left a successful medical practice. It would prove difficult for his family of seven in challenging health set-backs. Many of us prayed for this family when they were way-laid by serious illness. I admired him and his wife’s willingness to leave the good life to help those who needed their expertise, something which is of greater eternal value.

As a person who has headed the wrong way more than once, with good intentions of course, I know how challenging it can be to reverse, revisit, and move forward. For me, it was the only way to manage life and was the right thing to do. Some decisions were forced upon me out of circumstances greater than my ability to serve up. But I made it. I turned and pursued that which requires much in spirit and courage.

Where I am now would not have been possible if I had not changed my direction, recovered sufficiently, and then pursued a path God intended for me.

Turn a wrong way into a right way.

N. L. Brumbaugh, with a story from “A Quiet Grace”

*this story happened a few years ago