Do you believe in signs?  I mean, when you find a penny head-side up on the ground, do you feel you’re in for some very good luck?  How about that first robin in spring – does it fill you with hope?  Does seeing a big, beautiful monarch butterfly or the smile in a full moon make you feel that a loved one who has passed is watching over you? Does a brilliant rainbow in the sky beckon a pot of gold?

Do you think I’m crazy?!?  If so, then I’m pretty sure you don’t believe in signs. But I do. I, personally, am always looking for signs wherever and in whatever form they may take, and I usually take the advice they dictate. One day, while questioning all the worries in my life, I drove past a church marquee that said: “Be still and know that I am God.”  I took a deep breath and turned my troubles over to God.

In the movie,” Fools Rush In” starring Salma Hayek and Matthew Perry, a man is drawn back to the woman he has loved and lost by a series of signs. He meets a priest on the street who tells him he looks lost and that there are signs all around him to guide him where he needs to go and all he has to do is follow them.  He then sees a series of signs including a billboard with a desert scene that is like where she lives, a Chihuahua dog being walked that resembles her dog, and then finally a dark-haired little girl in the airport who chases after him to the door – her name, Isabelle, the same name as the woman he loves.  As a follower and seeker of signs, this is one of my favorite movies.

Recently I went to Lancaster, where the shops are filled with hand-made wooden signs carved with inspirational sayings. I was going nuts trying to read them all. I thought I’d share a few of them with you, along with a few of my other favorites.  Maybe they’ll guide you to do what you need to do or find an answer to a question that is in your heart.

Everything is going to be all right – maybe not today, but eventually.

Find the one who makes your heart smile.  (My heart actually leapt when I saw this one.)

When you get to your wit’s end, you will find God lives there.

In trying times, it’s important to keep on trying. (Truer words were never spoken.)

Do what you can with what you have where you are. (Theodore Roosevelt)

Life’s greatest risk is never taking one.

Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid. (Basil King)

Leap and the net will appear.

When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on. (Franklin D. Roosevelt)

Keep your eyes, your ears and your heart open.  God is directing you – whether it be a verse in a song you hear like Foreigner’s “Don’t stop believing” or Wilson Phillips, “Hold on for one more day cause things are gonna change,” or Sting’s “Love can mend your life.”  It could be a thoughtful word from a wise friend, “You need to cut your ties, get out and move on.” Or a phrase from a scripture verse, “Trust in God and in His goodness in all circumstances.”

My favorite sign, which I purchased in Lancaster that day:

Look, listen and follow the signs.  They’ll take you where you need to go.