The Path Less Taken

Throughout a person's lifetime they may find themselves at a fork in the road.  Although both paths will lead into an unknown future, one path will generally seem more safe than the other.  The safe path is paved with the bricks of "status quo," that do not travel to destinations of "great change."  This path is generally easier on the heart and kinder to the nerves.  On this path, one can amble along in a leisurely way with God, making small-talk along the way. You can know God on this path, but only to such a degree that small-talk makes possible.  Only to such a degree that Wilbur Rees describes as, "not to explode your soul or disturb your sleep, but just enough to equal a warm cup of milk or a snooze in the sunshine."  Not so much as to transform, because transformation is a destination of "great change" and the safe path does not travel there because that is where the other path leads.

The other path will seem not-so-safe.  As you stand at the fork and gaze down the pavement of the other path, you may catch a glimpse of the bricks of ridicule, rejection, grief, loss, doubt, discouragement-- a veritable mosaic of potential sorrow or failure, but it is the only path that leads to the destination of "great change."  This path is neither easy on the heart, nor kind to the nerves.  On this path, one never ambles because each step must be calculated and chosen, thought through and considered, clinging to God for guidance and help.  There is no small-talk on this path, there are only deep conversations with God that lead to discovery or long silences of understanding.  You will know God on this path in a way that will shatter your soul and break you completely, bringing you to a complete end of yourself so that you can be transformed.  The path of "great change" leads to transformation, and transformation is costly.  The price of transformation is the death of self and the willingness to walk along the bricks of sorrow and hardship that lead along a very narrow path less taken.

As I stand at this fork and glance back-and-forth along each potential path:  the safe path-- lined with the bricks of status quo; or the path of great change-- paved with an intricate mosaic of hardship and hope, I think of my Lord.  I think of Him standing at the same fork.  I think of Him looking at what the world had become in its ignorance and sin, while holding in His heart the knowledge of what it was meant to be.  I think of Him standing at the foot of the mountain of change that needed to take place to begin moving His creation along the path of restoration, seemingly dwarfed by the Herculean challenges that lay ahead.  I think of Him standing there in His full humanity, experiencing the trepidation of the unknown.  I think of Him standing there, taking a deep breath into lungs He created Himself and stepping out with feet of His own design, onto the path of great change, walking along the bricks of ridicule, rejection, grief, loss, doubt, and discouragement.  I think of His promise to me that I am being transformed into His image, therefore I believe in faith that if He can walk this path, so can I.

"Enter through the narrow gate.  For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matt 7:13,14)

"And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it, only those who walk in that Way-- and fools will not stray onto it." (Is 35:8)

"The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself-- with your own eyes you will see Him. And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: 'This is the way. Walk in it.'" (Is 30:20,21)

"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them." (Is 42:16)

"This is what the Lord says-- your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: 'I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you what is best for you, Who directs you in the way you should go.'" (Is 48:17)