Have you experienced what it’s like to travel too fast down a gravel road? If you’re going too fast, you may begin to fish tail and lose control of your car! If only we could drive on paved roads that are smooth, stable, and without any potholes…
Isn’t that how we think our lives should go? We grow up thinking we will graduate from high school, get our college degree, land a nice job out of college, get married, have a couple of kids and live happily ever after. Only realizing that happily ever after doesn’t take into consideration we do not live in a fairy tale! If we did live in a fairy tale and have a perfect life, then why would we ever strive to become better, why would we ever want to find God if he didn’t exist in our perfect fairytale world, and why would we ever get out of our selfish inward ways? WE WOULDN’T!!!
If you’ve walked down a path that isn’t paved, as I’ve done growing up in the country, you’ll discover the path may have huge ruts that you’ll need to be very careful of, or you may slip and get stuck. The path may take you on an adventure where you follow a winding creek, and discover nature and God’s beauty in it as I did many times by my parents ranch. As a child, my path once had a rattlesnake in it! Luckily, I had my Dad’s cowboy boots on, and stepped right over the snake without it striking me!
The thing about paths I’ve discovered are: They are never straight, they are never smooth, they are winding and filled with sorrow in the bottom of a valley, they are treacherous when climbing up a steep mountain and feel like forever, and they are slippery when rain turns them into ice. However, they are rewarding when the pathway opens to a new yellow brick road that is filled with color, sunshine, rainbows, butterflies, singing, flowers, green grass, plush meadows, and a pot of love at the end of the rainbow. In the end, when you find that life isn’t about stuff, power or money, control or being selfish, then you might be traveling down a path rather than a smooth and stable road. I hope everyone finds a path at some point in their lifetime…