Follow That Sign

The days are long in the land of the midnight sun but it was getting dark when I finally reached my charming hotel in the seaside village of Bogense Denmark one summer evening.  Too tired to do anything but shower, pull on my pajamas and climb into bed, I attempted to learn just a few words from my tiny but fat little English-to-Danish translation book. 

Good morning, where is the breakfast room? I looked up: God morgen, hvor er morgenmadslokalet

And just in case I was asked I need to be able to say....It was delicious, thank you. I looked it up: Det var lækker tak

I placed the book on my nightstand and clicked off the reading light. Sweet dreams awaited.

Early the next morning I awoke excited for my day of exploration.  Eager to discover the area where my ancestors would have spent time I dressed quickly, threw my camera strap over my shoulder and headed out the door in search of the breakfast room. 

"God morgen, hvor er morgenmadslokalet?"  I asked a pretty blonde haired girl already headed in to make up my room.  She smiled, pointed and happily spilled out a long line of sing-songy words that I pretended to understand, smiled back and said ”Tak!”

My plan for the day was to meander the lanes and paths throughout the small village and work my way down to the water experiencing, photographing and basically absorbing the absolute Danishness of the place. It wasn’t long before I saw a simple light blue sign in the shape of an arrow with white writing, it said, ”Envejsgade”. I reached into my bag for my dictionary only to discover that I had left it on the nightstand. Oh well, I thought, I’ll just wing it and since the arrow was pointing in the direction of ”Envejsgade” I’d just follow it and find out for myself.  Along the way I strolled in and out of of shops, photographed ancient doors and windows filled with flowers and forgot about the sign until there it was again, leading me to Envejsgade. I headed in the direction it pointed, ended up ordering Smørbrød for lunch in the cafe of an inn that had been established long before America became a nation. Out into the sunshine again I quickly spotted that sky blue sign with the white writing pointing me towards ”Evnejsgade”.

Where is this place? I wondered. Strolling past idylic homes and following the brook that meanders its way through the town I captured in my camera the street market with baskets filled with hand spun wool, many more baskets overflowing with fresh local fruit and vegetables and also enjoying the sunshine were the children, oh the beautiful children. I worked my way to the docks where the boats were moored, rising and falling gently in the blue waters of the sea. I stepped into a dockside pastry shop and had an Æbletårte.

”Det var laekker tak” I was able to honestly say to the waiter and then stepping out of the cafe I saw the sign again. Envejsgade.  

So I picked up on it once again, really determined now to find this place! I slowly made my way around the village and suddenly I was back at my hotel.  Happy with my day and resigned to find Envejsgade first thing the next morning I fished for the room key in my bag, unlocked the door and went inside. I kicked off my shoes, dumped my bag and camera on the bed and spied the little dictionary on the end table. Ok, I thought, now to look  up ”Envejsgade”.  A....B....C...I flipped through the book  to E.  

Ok...Envejsgade..found it...it means... ONE-WAY STREET

I dropped the book on my lap and laughed right out loud at myself. If someone had been following me they would have thought I was a bit daft!

The memory of that serendipity day played in my mind this week as I drove to the market.  The street leading there is under heavy construction. Trees are being torn down and in the name of progress, the road will be widened but it’s slow going and the speed signs posted all along the way say 25 mph.  I was dutifully going 25 but could see in my rear view mirror an anxious woman in the car behind me, tail gating and scowling. I could also see her daughter sitting next to her, in another quick glance in the mirror I could see the girl rolling her eyes and could almost hear her saying ”Oh Maaahhhhmmmm”.

When we reached the end of the construction area the car with its frazzled driver zoomed past me, I saw her and thought ”Oh a stressful young mom with places to go, things to do and people to see!”  She looked at me as if to acknowledge, ”Oh a grandma with all the time in the world! UGH!”

At the market I picked up the items I needed and got in line. There was a white haired lady in front of me at least 15 years my senior. She had many questions and stories for the cashier and a stack of coupons for each and every item that he passed through the laser pricechecker. And then she had difficulty getting her credit card to work but then finally smiled, finished the story she was telling the clerk about her new baby great granddaughter, sighed, signed her name electronically and said, ”Now I’ll need help out with all of this” So I waited while the cashier called for help. The lady looked back at me and said, ”Oh I’m sorry, I know you must be in a hurry”.

Frankly, I was but all the while I was thinking how odd that I was the old woman on the road and the younger woman in the check out line. I had been the young mom in days past, gosh I had even been the young daughter and I will be the older lady in days hence. How very important it is that we recognize where each other is on the road of life and have empathy and compassion since it’s a journey we are all taking! A one way road of life meandering its way through all of our learning experiences from beginning to end with all of its many turns and twists.

That night my son and I were texting back and forth about leadership positions and how you need to lead with patience and love and understanding. He texted in his own inimitable, deep thinking way:

You have to lead, teach, inspire and do it all with the help of the Spirit and with a ton of love and patience to be successful.  Everyone’s going a different speed on this highway of life and that’s just fine as long as they are at their own top speed.  The hard thing is knowing what everyone’s top speed is – and I guess that’s why we have to rely on the Spirit to help us know what the top speed is for those we are leading and not assume they are or should be moving at our speed.  The beauty is that the Lord doesn’t focus on our flat tire or bad transmission, he sees each of us as fine tuned engines, knowing our top speed ability at any given time. We need to observe each other that way too.

I thought how perfectly that fit in to my day's experience.  I'm reminded that there is a story behind every person. There is a reason why they are the way they are. I must make it a game to learn the reason or imagine one before I judge or react to a person who is also traveling down their road of life earnestly trying to decipher the signs they encounter along the way.

Nyd rejsen (Enjoy the journey)