Sometimes no trail is the best trail…
It was a thought that occurred to me as I traipsed up a creek and through tangled tickets. Across fallen trees and new growth. Over large rocks and under hanging limbs with budding leaves (if you couldn’t tell this was earlier in the year). It was an adventure. A path that I was carving for myself through the wild.
My own path.
My own way.
Not something pre-set out for me. Not something I was told to do or required to do. It was something I decided to do with my family, as we searched for wonder in nature. Saw beauty in the early spring growth. Felt the coolness of a mountain stream on our feet. Discovered quiet places that most people will never see.
That is something that never would have happened had we stayed on the trail. Had we conformed to what others had laid out. I’m not saying hiking trails are bad, in fact, many of them are trails I love. I want you to put this in context. What context?
Life.
The trail is your life, the path that you are walking, the way you are going.
Sometimes we get so focused on other people’s trails. On what they are doing and accomplishing. On what the world says we should and shouldn’t be doing. That we miss our own trail. The path the Lord would have us take. The one laid out all for us. It’s small, a narrow path that branches off from the larger road that is easy to follow. This one is harder to see. Each step is an unknown, it could be hiding anything, both wonder and danger. Perhaps, we’ve gotten so focused on our neighbors’ paths, on fitting in, that we missed ours.
Or maybe we ignore that path because it’s slippery or overgrown or steep, and we’d rather continue following the same path as someone else because it’s easier than forging our own path. It’s simpler than diving off the trail. It comes with less bruises, less scars.
But oh, the blessings we miss by avoiding our path. (And the pain, you may be thinking) Yet, isn’t that the point? That in life, often blessings and pain are hand in hand. That wonder and fear sometimes walk side by side. Some things hurt or are scary, but after the hurt and fear are past, that is when we see the beauty and wonder of God’s design.
We can, in our own human way, continue following the well-traveled path. The wide path. The easy path.
Or…we can turn and begin down the path God has for us. The unique and beautiful path He made just for you! Because sometimes the best path…is no path at all, or at least the one you can hardly see, because only then will you cling wholeheartedly to your Savior’s hand. Implicitly trusting Him to lead you safely through.
Now, this is the point that you ask how this has anything to do with books or writing…well, life is a story. The greatest story of all and the most important one, I might add. Just as the main character in a book must make the hard decisions and forge his own path, so must we. Stories are there to teach us, not to help us escape.
Oh, yes, the wonderful and fantastic are great escapes, but between those pages, in those scenes, we learn from those characters. We discover what makes them or breaks them, and through that, we learn about ourselves. About the paths that they are following and inevitably about the paths we are following as well.
So, are you clinging to your Savior’s hand? Or are you following in someone else’s footsteps?
Are you ready to step off the wide path and take the narrow one, the one made just for you by a God who loves you more than you could ever know? Or will you continue following the road the world has outlined, that everyone else is taking because it is easier to traverse?
The decision is yours, and as the wise mentors say in the books, choose wisely, for the outcome of your entire kingdom hangs in the balance. And that kingdom is your heart.
Conclusion:
Have you ever felt like you were traveling into unknown territory? As if life had no direction? I hope this post helped you find your bearings, resent your course and forge on with confidence.
Bless!
Kayti
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