Every Road Leads To Somewhere

Roads are traveled, some well worn, some less traveled. The earth is wrapped and weighed down by the trail of roads.  They intersect with one another, giving travelers options and connections. I am on a road, and I know you are too.  We can't stay in one place. We travel. We take steps.  Place to place, town to town....one journey to another.

Cement roads, dirt roads, and trails take us places, but there are also the spiritual highways that blaze a road on our hearts and minds. 

Sometime we know where we are going, and other times we don't.  On some roads we take people with us and enjoy the company.  On another road we may leave others behind.

Some roads have unexpected detours, and it isn't quite what we had in mind.  Definitely not what we dreamed of and find ourselves waking up and wondering how we even got here on this road.  

Sometimes the road is long and seemingly never ending, and it would be nice to just park for a bit. But rest is hard to find and there is a "no parking" sign in view. We wonder if this road we're on will ever end. It's the one that requires an extra dose of endurance. A hope in Someone Greater, who can make sense of the road we're on, praying He will one day help us understand why we had to take this road.

At times the road needs a face-lift and construction slows me down to a halt. It's painful to wait and wait and wait some more. I know where I want to go and I'm ready to get there; however, there is a submission to the one holding the sign.  I must wait in line until it is my turn to move. At this point I have decisions to make...will I sit in my car and complain and stew about the kink in my plans or get out of the car to see what is going on ahead as if that will hurry things along?  If I only knew what was ahead, had a little more information, I think I can figure out a way around this standstill...another route of my own. 

Or I can wait patiently. What a novel idea! 

I can sit back and enjoy the company of those on the trip with me. The ones who are my traveling companions, living life with me, watching my cues of how to handle these types of travels. 

Trusting we will make it to "somewhere" at the right timing. 

There are signs along the way.  Signs that may distract us from our initial route and destination and prolong the journey; however, pit stops are needed at times.

And then there are SIGNS...signs that weren't there the day before.  Creatively displayed for your spirit to see and God to speak...

But what about Dead Ends?  Some roads end.  They seem to lead nowhere.  Brent and I had lunch in Homer this week, and we drove out to the Spit where the road literally ends.  The end was something beautiful.  Maybe nowhere means now-here!

The end of the road might be mistitled.  Instead of dead, it can be full of beauty and the start of new life.  We often don't know the purpose behind the journey that lead up to an end. We just know we traveled the best we could and came to that point.  We can feel as if we have failed or missed our turn or we can trust that God had His reasons.  It's time to turn around and head back the same way we came, but now we know more.  Now we travel on the other side of the road with a different view.  Dead ends still lead us somewhere. 

(Just don't forget to grab some halibut fish & chips and salt water taffy before you head back.)

Every road we travel presents us with multiple choices and decisions along the way, and naturally consequences and lessons follow.  The decision may be as simple as where to go to lunch or it can be large enough to change the trajectory of your life.

Is life really about destinations?  
Getting somewhere? 
A stop that tells us "we made it"! 

Maybe I've been looking at life all wrong. With an end in mind.  Finding my place in this world. Proving I made it.

Perhaps the "somewhere" is something here right in front of my eyes.  It's the way I adapt to the winding roads of the south. The steadfastness on long, straight, never-ending northern roads carving off my impatience.  The wait building my trust on the Solid Path.

Life can be defined as "the capacity of growth and continual change preceding death."

I guess if we aren't growing and continually changing, we're not living up to our capacity. We could be declared dead. 

Every road does lead us somewhere.  It may be a long road, a tiring one, a foreign one, a rough one with lots of pot holes, or you're waiting to gas up.  The roads vary.  We travel alone and intersect with others at times, but still a road is before us. 

The question is: am I giving this particular road I'm on permission to grow me and change me for the better, allowing the purpose of the travel to do its thing?  Or am I the child continually hollering out, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

Maybe it is better said,

 "Every road invites us to experience the capacity of our lives." 

I like that better!