At one point or another, most of us find ourselves moving along a road we’re unsure that we want to be on.
Three years ago, I started walking such a road. Well, I don’t know if I was walking, really. But, I felt called to this way and, rather unwillingly, began by committing myself to at least sit on the shoulder until I could start moving my feet.
It’s one thing to say, “yes,” to the road. That can be hard enough. But it’s harder yet to keep walking when you feel unconvinced of whatever prize lies at the end of it. For me, this ‘road’ is the agreement I made when entering a career that resembles the last thing I ever saw myself doing.
But, I’m doing this thing. Walking this road. And to my surprise, my feet seem to derive life from this path. I couldn’t have known that when I inched my toes to its edge a few years back. And I wonder what I do not know now.
I find the other challenge to be that the road seldom looks how we think it will or how we're told it will. At the outset I was given a map and a lose itinerary. But the way marked out has shifted time and again. I’ve had to stop and wait at places that I didn’t want to visit at all. And other stops along the way have been smudged out all together. I didn’t know what the endpoint was at the beginning and I don’t think it’s any clearer now.
And then there are walls that we meet! Just when you get clipping along at an good pace, one is thrown up in front of you. I’ve been pushing my shoulder against one for the last few months. I couldnt move it. So I tried jumping over it. Which failed. And failed when I tried it again.
The map didn’t show a wall here. The road was supposed to go right on through here. That is what I was expecting. What I had planned for. What I had accepted. What I had said, "yes" to.
I didn’t say yes to this bloody wall.
I didn’t say yes to this time of waiting here.
I stubbornly resisted walking in this direction at the start.
And now I don't want to be slowed down and stopped.
I can't walk around the wall and I can’t see what’s on the other side.
It's frustrating.
I see this sign often in the city. I swear, it finds me. This viewing was had by chance when biking through an alley downtown last week. It would do me well to have one pounded into my front yard so I’d be reminded every time I leave my house.
My vision is most limited.
I don’t know where this road leads. Or why walls spring up along the way.
I never expected to find goodness along this road. But I have.
And I never expected to meet this wall.
But it too, I must assume, has some good purpose.
Surely, there is One with a vision that extends beyond my own.
Three years ago, I started walking such a road. Well, I don’t know if I was walking, really. But, I felt called to this way and, rather unwillingly, began by committing myself to at least sit on the shoulder until I could start moving my feet.
It’s one thing to say, “yes,” to the road. That can be hard enough. But it’s harder yet to keep walking when you feel unconvinced of whatever prize lies at the end of it. For me, this ‘road’ is the agreement I made when entering a career that resembles the last thing I ever saw myself doing.
But, I’m doing this thing. Walking this road. And to my surprise, my feet seem to derive life from this path. I couldn’t have known that when I inched my toes to its edge a few years back. And I wonder what I do not know now.
I find the other challenge to be that the road seldom looks how we think it will or how we're told it will. At the outset I was given a map and a lose itinerary. But the way marked out has shifted time and again. I’ve had to stop and wait at places that I didn’t want to visit at all. And other stops along the way have been smudged out all together. I didn’t know what the endpoint was at the beginning and I don’t think it’s any clearer now.
And then there are walls that we meet! Just when you get clipping along at an good pace, one is thrown up in front of you. I’ve been pushing my shoulder against one for the last few months. I couldnt move it. So I tried jumping over it. Which failed. And failed when I tried it again.
The map didn’t show a wall here. The road was supposed to go right on through here. That is what I was expecting. What I had planned for. What I had accepted. What I had said, "yes" to.
I didn’t say yes to this bloody wall.
I didn’t say yes to this time of waiting here.
I stubbornly resisted walking in this direction at the start.
And now I don't want to be slowed down and stopped.
I can't walk around the wall and I can’t see what’s on the other side.
It's frustrating.
I see this sign often in the city. I swear, it finds me. This viewing was had by chance when biking through an alley downtown last week. It would do me well to have one pounded into my front yard so I’d be reminded every time I leave my house.
My vision is most limited.
I don’t know where this road leads. Or why walls spring up along the way.
I never expected to find goodness along this road. But I have.
And I never expected to meet this wall.
But it too, I must assume, has some good purpose.
Surely, there is One with a vision that extends beyond my own.