Every summer my parents would load up the Red Dale camper and their tribe of kids and we would go on extended camping trips. On one such trip we were camped on the South Platte. Camp was quite a distance from where the good fishing was but manageable for an energetic pre-teen.
One night as I was sitting by the campfire I kept looking up at a large pine tree. For some reason I couldn’t take my eyes off of the silhouette of the conifer. It was just a tree, nothing spectacular about it but my gaze was constantly directed toward it.  
I finally wrapped the stone that I had been warming in the campfire in a towel and dropped it into the bottom of my sleeping bag and crawled into the tent. Toasty warm with my heated rock I fell asleep to the sounds of the river and forest wildlife.

The next morning I was up early. After a filling breakfast I packed a sandwich and grabbed my tackle and pole. Off to the river I went. I fished all day and by late afternoon my stringer was full and I was tired.
The trip back to camp did not seem as manageable with my waning energy level so I decided to take a shortcut. It wasn’t long before I was hopelessly lost. I tried to backtrack but nothing looked familiar. I crossed streams that I had never seen. The sun was beginning to set and I was beginning to panic. In the distance I could hear coyotes calling to each other. I knew that I had walked much farther than what it usually took me to get back to camp, but there was no camp where I was. I began to cry.
Now I didn’t cry very often but it was all I had left. I knelt next to a small stream and bowed my head and cried. And then a voice in my head said, “Look up.” As I raised my head I saw the tree that I had been so mesmerized by the night before. Like a beacon, that tree guided me back to camp.
I never said a word about being lost. Partly because I felt silly for getting lost in the first place and partly because my brothers would have never let me live it down. They were always supportive in that way.
Sometimes our lives lead us to unfamiliar paths and sometimes all we can do is to fall to our knees and cry. But remember, you can’t forget to look up. Chances are something or someone will be there to guide
you back.