It was almost nine in the morning, and if I didn’t hurry, I might be late to my meeting. I grabbed my purse and notebook from the passenger seat, and got out of my car. It was late fall, and flurries had just begun to fly through the air.
As I crossed the parking lot, I pulled my unzipped denim jacket around me and hugged my notebook to my chest, to try to keep warm. Just up ahead of me, I saw another youth pastor also hurrying to get to our local youth worker meeting.
When we got to the doors of the church, he turned to open one for me, and smiled. I smiled and said, “Hello.” But as we entered the quiet main corridor of the church, we didn’t say much else. In churches, there often seems to be a holy hush that settles into the building during the week. One, not to be disturbed. So we said nothing more, until about halfway down the hall, when he turned to me and whispered,
“Do you know where we’re supposed to meet?” Only being three months into my first youth ministry job, I was still finding my way around the church where I worked, let alone knowing the other churches in the area. But as I shook my head no, we spotted an open door with the light on, just down the way.
We walked to the doorway, and I ducked my head in to see. It wasn’t the right room. There on the floor, sat three women about my age, holding babies and playing with toddlers. It was a mom’s group. And unexpectedly, something shifted for me.
In just a moment, I would be in a room full of youth pastors, and I would be the only woman. In the tradition and culture of my college, and now the church where I was serving, I was taking the path less traveled. Though I was still only twenty-three, many of my peers from school were already married and beginning families. In the church, women become mothers and men become pastors. Only my heart, and I believe God, lead me otherwise.
What do you do when your path is different?
When your job is less traditional, or you can’t seem to find the one that fits you so you keep trying new ones. When you don’t choose the steady job. When you don’t know why but you don’t feel the need to buy a house, get a dog, or settle down and start a family. When it feels all your friends and peers are going one way, and you are going another.
What do you do?
Maybe, it isn’t in every part of your life that you are taking a sharp turn away from the crowd. But it is in one that surprises your folks and even your friends. One that some days, even surprises you.
In just a moment, I would be in a room full of youth pastors, and I would be the only woman.
Perhaps you’re the first one in your family to go to college. You’re the first to get in shape and begin living a healthy lifestyle. Or you’re the first person to go to counseling and continue going as long as you need to. You’re the first person who chooses different.
Only, if you are like me, standing outside the room of that mom’s group and outside so many rooms since, you know. You know it wasn’t just you who chose that path, that path chose you. And though I believe many of these paths choose many more people than those who answer, you’ve answered and you’ve been changed.
When we answer the call to follow a different path—the one that’s meant for us—it is life giving, exciting, but also hard and often scary. It changes our relationships. Friends part ways. Family members grow distant. It’s lonely. And sometimes, when we go against a cultural norm, we come away with battle scares.
But all of these things doesn’t mean we made the wrong choice.
Some of you today are at a crossroads. The path less traveled is calling you. While at the same time the people you love are heading in a different direction. Some of them are going where they’ve always gone. Some of them are going where you planned together to go, as kids. Only you’re being called somewhere you never would’ve suspected.
From someone who has been at that crossroads, let me encourage you today to Be Brave. Take some time to pray and talk to a trusted mentor, and then, if that path is still calling, GO. It is the path that will lead you to yourself. The self that has both the most joy, and the most to give. Yes, at times it will be hard, lonely, and scary. But it will bring you to your people, help you find your strength, and clarify your bigger life Calling.
And if you’re already on your different path, keep going. You can do this. The journey is just beginning.
Where have you been calling to a different path?
What has been hard? What has brought you joy?
Where are you being calling to a different path today?
Have I told you that I offer an eight week coaching module to help people not only discover their calling, but also better understand their identity and career path as well? Click here to find out more.
Are you in the midst of making a hard decision? Contemplating a big life change? If so, you may be interested in my FREE Making Changes Checklist that I give to all my email friends. Want your free copy? subscribe here.
