Give me your lantern and compass, give me a map, So I can find my way to the sacred mountain, to the place of your presence, To enter the place of worship, meet my exuberant God, Sing my thanks with a harp, magnificent God, my God. [Psalm 43:3-4 (MSG)]

All sunshine and sovereign is God, generous in gifts and glory. He doesn’t scrimp with his traveling companions. It’s smooth sailing all the way with God-of-the-Angel-Armies. [Psalm 84:11-12 (MSG)]

Fortunately, I’m not an explorer—my sense of direction is terrible and I’m not so handy with a compass.  Besides, compasses can’t be trusted. Because the earth actually is one big magnet, instead of pointing to true north (the “North Pole”), a compass will align itself with the earth’s magnetic field. Although true north is located somewhere in the Arctic Ocean, a compass points to magnetic north, which is about 500 km away on Ellesmere Island in Northern Canada. To make it even more confusing, magnetic north is always moving and has moved 1000 km in the last 150 years. Unfortunately, finding true north is essential for accurate navigation, which is why I defer to the captain of my ship and the pilot of my plane when travelling long distances.

Folklore has it that one of my favorite wildflowers can find true north better than most compasses. The Compass Plant (or Silphium laciniatum as the botanists would say) stands six to twelve feet tall and its bright yellow flowers are beacons in the prairie. In bright sunlight, its leaves tend to orient themselves in a north-south pattern to avoid the direct rays of the midday sun. Apparently, the plant got its name because the pioneers used it to guide them across the Midwest prairies. I’m not so sure about its accuracy since, from my observation, the leaves tend to go every which way. The flowers, however, always seem to point in the same direction—toward the sun!

Finding our true north is as essential in life as it is in navigation and it’s even easier to be lost in life’s journey than it is on the prairie or in the ocean. Uncertain of where we are, we’re often unclear about where we’re going or what path we are to take to get wherever it is. Life’s true north, of course, has nothing to do with the North Pole, the earth’s axis, magnetic variations, grid lines, maps or even compasses. If I need to know where I am, where I need to go, or how to get there, I’m going to follow the example of the Compass Plant and look to the Son!

Jesus once again addressed them: “I am the world’s Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in.” [John 8:12 (MSG)]

Jesus summed it all up when he cried out, “Whoever believes in me, believes not just in me but in the One who sent me. Whoever looks at me is looking, in fact, at the One who sent me. I am Light that has come into the world so that all who believe in me won’t have to stay any longer in the dark. [John 12:44-46 (MSG)]

Copyright ©2016 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved.