... continuing along the way

I've been on a journey for the last few months...
I'm definitely NOT in "Kansas" anymore...
and in as much as some I know...
would love comparing CA to OZ....
I've never seen the Emerald City here...

Munchkins, flying monkeys...
cowardly lions, talking scarecrows, tinmen...
horses-of-a-different-color, evil witches...
and "faux" wizards, selling "snake oil"...
for sure...
a "shining city on a hill"... ?
not here....

we are all travelers...
some journey, looking for "home"...
some seek "truth"... "enlightenment"...
all want to find acceptance... love...
happiness... fulfillment... a purpose to all this...
all need forgiveness... and hope...
to know that we are not alone...
to believe that "this"...is NOT "all there is..."



to "continue" means to progress forward...on a chosen path...
choosing which path is critical...
"two roads diverged in a yellow wood...
and sorry I could not travel both...
I looked down one as far as I could..."
[Robert Frost "The Road Not Taken"]

we seek guidance from "wise men"...
check our horoscopes...read cards, palms and tea leaves...
and find no more satisfying an answer...
than if we had asked the "Magic 8 Ball"...
or read a "fortune cookie"....

the way, can be made plain if you choose to believe
that Jesus is the way...
"I am the Way, the truth and the life...
no one comes to the Father except through Me"

but then, there is plain...and there is God's "plain"...
"blessed are you Thomas, because you have seen me...
blessed are those who have not seen, and still believe..."
THIS is God's "plain"...

have you ever noticed that "plain" is merely
"plan"...with an "I" in it ?...
when "you" ["I"], are in God's "plan"...
the way is made "plain"...
but, I digress...

since I have been following His path for me
these last 4 months, I have learned a number of things...
not with fanfare...
the heavens have not opened with a burst of light...
illuminating a profound truth in my mind...

quite the opposite...
our God is the master of the still, small voice...
the quieting calm in the presence of shattering grief...
the comforting peace of a trusting prayer...

we must learn patience...
how to trust..."resting" in Him...
abiding, if you will...in His presence...
giving up control...trusting all to Him...
building up our faith..." a belief in things unseen..."

"knowing" is a form of control...
"faith" does not "need" to "know"...
it just "trusts and believes"...
and thus, is "led" in the path
that is God's will for us...

once we learn this lesson...
relinquish our "need to know"...
and just trust...
then He gently guides us through the maze...

He is there...beside you...
opening doors once locked tight...
tearing down barriers... softening hearts...
dissolving bitterness...
filling withered, barren places...
with His love and grace...
and the fruits of the Spirit...

but only if you ask Him in...
if you give Him your heart and life...
and listen to His plan...
waiting patiently to be led...

but it is never as easy as all this may sound...
trust...is hard-won...
watered with tears...
through grief and shame...
the first wobbly steps of belief and praise...
it's always a struggle... with our selves...
but we have Jesus... and he is the Way...

"Does the road wind
uphill all the way ?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the journey take
the whole long day ?
From morn to night, my friend."
[C.G. Rossetti "Uphill"]