So how do we identify and follow the spiritual inukshuks in our lives?  How do we live by faith?  The most basic answer comes down to following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who serves as our power for day-to-day living and spiritual interaction with God (and with other believers) and our means for obtaining spiritual wisdom.  1 Corinthians 2:9-16 explains this for us more fully:

It is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” -- but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.  The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.  For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him?  In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.  This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.  The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.  The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?”  But we have the mind of Christ.

So really, finding the inukshuks in life and determining God’s direction all comes down to having this “mind of Christ” (the Holy Spirit).  It's not a formula or a mathematical equation; it’s a spiritual thing.  The Holy Spirit is the ultimate trump card.  His leadership is most important!  But with that said... there do seem to be a handful of principles that we can observe in the Bible and from real-world experience for identifying the spiritual inukshuks around us and making Spirit-filled decisions.  In particular, I believe there are five main checkpoints that we can use to help determine the inukshuks in our lives and find the path being marked out by these inukshuks: (1) God's Word, the Bible, (2) Prayer, (3) Godly Counsel from Other People, (4) Circumstances, and (5) the Test of Time.

With actual inukshuks in the Canadian wilderness, Inuit hunters don’t just look at them and see a random pile of stones.  They know how to study the rock formation like a map and read it for specific clues as to which direction they must go.  In the same way, we can study the Bible to give us direction (see 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Psalm 119:97-99, 138, and John 14:21).  Secondly, real inukshuks are discovered through searching for them and consistently scanning one’s eyes across the flat, arctic horizon in hopes of spotting the next marker on the trail home.  An Inuit hunter knows that he won’t see anything if he’s not looking for it.  In the same way, prayer gives us spiritual eyes to see what’s in front of us (see Proverbs 2:3-6, Colossians 1:9-10, and James 1:5).  Thirdly, it's important to remember that an inukshuk is not just an arbitrary pile of stones on the tundra.  There may be quite a bit of variety in the way one inukshuk might look from the next, but there is an element of consistency as well -- stemming from the fact that they are a part of the Inuit culture, and people who are from that culture know what separates an inukshuk from just a bunch of rocks.  In the same way, our involvement in Christian community helps us in determining the direction God wants to take our lives (see Proverbs 12:15 and Proverbs 11:14).  Fourthly, it's significant to note that for the Inuit people, an inukshuk’s environment, placement, and circumstances are important in determining the inukshuk’s meaning and significance.  A pile of rocks in the middle of the wilderness means a whole lot more than a pile of rocks in the village.  Likewise, God can use circumstances in our lives to help prevent us from going wrong directions and steer us in the right direction for the future (see Acts 16:6-7 and Matthew 10:11-14).  And finally, it's important to realize that one inukshuk is not enough to guide an Inuit hunter on the entire path that he needs to follow.  Rather, it is the collective alignment of several inukshuks that mark the path, and the only way to know that you’re truly on the right path is to be patient and make sure that they consistently line up, pointing in the same direction.  I feel it’s the same way with spiritual inukshuks (see Psalm 27:13-14, Isaiah 30:18, and Proverbs 14:29).

In summary, I believe the better we can get at discerning these spiritual inukshuks and applying the principles outlined here above, the better we will be able to determine the Holy Spirit’s leading in our lives —- allowing us to make wise, Spirit-filled decisions.  At times, it will seem like the journey is incredibly long, with the inukshuks placed impossibly far apart.  But if we can keep moving forward in faith, staying true to the direction of the last inukshuk that we passed, we will reach our destination in God's time, and according to God's plan.