Re: Your adventure
This may come in handy
I had a daydream the other day, about this wonderful puzzle called life.
As I totter my own line between faith and free will, I thought it fitting to share.
I hope you bathe in it as such—a daydream pondering more than a soapbox lecture.
Take from it what you will…
A thread in the fog
You’re standing at the base of a mountain range.
And you look to the few mountains you might like to climb.
You assess what you can,
Perhaps even what “calls” to you.
And at some point—
Time, crumbling away the cliff of comfort beneath you—
You must choose a mountain to climb.
Chances are, something will pull you, and you’ll have to decide.
So, you move in the direction you feel most pulled…
The trail will start out foggy.
But along the way, the path will begin to clear.
One step at a time, the path will clear.
And clear,
And clear some more.
You’re finally making way, the sun warming your skin & soul.
This, with the utmost certainty, is where the path will fork.
You’ve made it so far already (in whatever direction you chose, and for whatever reason, still uncertain).
So… you’ve got to decide (again).
One is the path and the path alone,
Lovely, rich with all you could ask of a grand adventure.
It ends in a summit, just like the other.
But riddled, too, with fog, treachery, and danger,
With no chance for help.
The other path, ripe in equal danger,
Hosts a faint, golden thread weaving quietly along the side,
One that glows when you speak to it.
If you were to wander off-path or, God forbid, get lost,
You could find your way with a whisper.
Time to decide…
Do you blindly follow the left fork, with nothing to guide you?
The cynical would look to the thread and scoff:
“What trick is this? I don’t need a rope. And what if it’s a trap?”
Or do you, with a curious faith and optimism, decide there must be something to this thread in the fog…
And pick the right?
The point is,
Life is a fog.
And (I’ve come to think) God designed it that way so that I’d have to trust in something beyond my own mind to navigate it:
Him.
I’d have to trust in Him.
Lest I waste my days and this glorious opportunity called “life” wandering around in the fog, hoping (to no one) I just happen to get it all right by chance.
Personally, I’ve been arrogant at times to think I can manage on my own.
Wandering around in the fog, convincing myself I’ll again find the sun, and “on my own, damnit”…
Without fail, the fog has only thickened, and only the more lost have I become.
The times when I’ve picked up that golden thread again…
My path has cleared in days.
Without fail.
True story…
I wrote this piece some 8 months ago.
Last week, I started reading the Bible again (picked up my thread)…
This morning, I finished the book of John, flipped through my notes, and this verse jumped out at me:
“Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.” -John 12:35
As I closed my Bible, with resounding clarity, I heard a whisper to “go sit and write”…
Guess what was at the top of my drafts…
I hope you got something from this, however small.
I myself certainly still grapple with this “thread in the fog” daily.
But that’s the beauty of it, I think.
I don’t have it figured out in the slightest…
But, thread in hand, I can happily take the next step in this grand adventure of life knowing…
It hasn’t steered me wrong yet.
Who really knows, I guess, but… I like my odds.
Wishing you the grandest adventure,
-Emery