TRAJECTORY– (noun) the path followed by an
object moving under the action of given forces.

 

When a plane is on a certain trajectory, you can fairly accurately predict where it is headed based on its previous course, its speed, and the direction its nose currently points.

The same is true of many things in life.

If you look at your life as on a particular trajectory, where are you headed right now– toward bitterness or joy? Toward growth as a woman and child of God, toward stagnancy, or worse still, toward hypocrisy and selfishness?  Toward balance and wisdom in your approach to devices, or a social media addiction? Toward love and a heart for serving the people God puts in your path, or toward judgmental criticism of the people around you?

If you look at each of your children as on a particular trajectory, where are they headed? Given what you know about how God has built them, and what God is doing in their young minds and in your family’s life, where do their individual paths lead? Given their current level of obedience and responsiveness to the authorities in their lives, does their path lead to fruitfulness and peace, or to jail? Given their current attitude, and your response to it, where is their character headed?

If you look at your marriage as on a particular trajectory, where is it headed? Given the way you interact, your communication level and quality, your intimacy, and your unity and oneness, where is it likely you’ll end up: as the joyful couple celebrating dozens of years, Lord willing? Or, as the embittered older couple who managed to stay married by the skin of your teeth– despite a lack of connectivity and a laundry list of offenses between you? Or, divorced?

If you look at your spiritual life as on a particular trajectory, where are you headed? Toward greater wisdom, greater groundedness in the Word, and greater depths of dependence on the Heavenly Father? Or toward more independence and self-reliance, more valuing of worldly wisdom over the Word, and more time spent in your own head than thinking God’s thoughts after Him?

Let’s look at our lives realistically, without that mysterious American expectation fueled by romantic movies: little knowledge, little wisdom, that somehow leads to an amazing outcome.

If you look at your life without wishful thinking, what is your trajectory?

It would be absurd to look at an undisciplined, headstrong, quarrelsome child, and expect them to, as an adult, walk in wisdom, graciousness, and love for others all their days. We can’t look at ongoing, negative, unchallenged patterns in our own hearts, and expect that we will grow into godly women as we age. We can’t look at unhealthy patterns in our marriages and expect that they will somehow evaporate into a delightful marriage.

One challenge for us all:

NO MORE BURYING OUR HEADS IN THE SAND.

I dare us all (yes “us” — me too) to answer honestly:

• Where, if you look at the current state of affairs in each of these areas of your life and home, are they LIKELY headed?
• What does TRAJECTORY indicate about the direction of your life and home?

 

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