Never before or since have I looked for a road so desperately, just any road.
During Vacation, one of the wonderful experiences I had was to be outdoors somewhere and spend some time alone early in the morning. Once such morning, after the rains, I was on my bike and was trying to do some bird watching at a decent size pond nearby. The rains had made the path quite wet and as I rode my bike further along the banks of the ponds, my bike stopped. The wet mud had jammed between the mudguard and the tyre. I tried to remove the wet mud but it was stuck really bad. I stick was helpful but not much. After a lot of struggle I was able to move the bike a bit and then the mud built up again and I couldn’t move the bike. This kept happening time and again. It was quite exhausting and frustrating. This was the time that I have looked for a road like never before or since. All the anticipation of enjoying the nature had been lost by then; the only desperation was to find a road. Once I found a road, the relief, joy and gratitude for a well laid road filled me. I was truly enjoying my ride although there were no great sights on the sides. It was one of my finest rides.
This experience made me really reflect and be grateful for the roads we travel on every day. We take them for granted and are quick to express our displeasure about a few potholes.
Upon further reflection I pondered about the roads of life. How when we are not on the right path, it gets so difficult. I have taken journeys on the road of life which have been very painful. Life got stuck on these journeys and have left an indelible mark on my being. Just like the bike, I got stuck with no sign of good roads nearby. It took me a while to realize and come to grips with the fact that I am on a wrong road. After initial denial that I had taken the wrong road, I accepted and embraced the fact. This was helpful, since now I started to look for a road, any road that would get me out of there. I started to move, even though it was slow and quite painful, unsure of outcome, but I started to move. This was critical, since not moving and languishing in the error wouldn’t have helped me or anyone around me who loved me. I must acknowledge the help I received from Above. I really doubt if I would have made it without it.
Plodding ahead I reached some road in my life. It was not the most pleasant one but I made some progress. The momentum of life picked up again because of the grace from above. I started to enjoy the highways of life once again. It was a relief and joy. It also brought much joy to those who loved me.
Once you have such an experience. Although painful and frustrating, it also makes us wise if we evaluate our journeys. We learn which roads to avoid since we learnt the lesson with a price. Also, we are more sympathetic and compassionate to people who are fumbling and tumbling along their life’s journeys. We more ready and eager to lend a helping hand to such. So, the lesson if evaluated and gleaned well help us be wise and compassionate in our journey’s ahead.
In the initial phase of my bike ride, I had a warning that may be this was not the road to take, but I didn’t heed and pushed my way through it. Such is the rule of road, once you get on it and keep riding, you are sure to reach a certain destination. It is easy and indispensable – the destination. However, in life there is this very strong allegiance to this lie, that the choice we make, the paths of life we take wouldn’t lead us to the destination. Sometimes the extent of our deception is so great that we believe that we may end up somewhere better and noble inspite of living a not so right life in the present. We must be careful, the road decides the destination and not our intentions, however good they may be. With each decision, turn on the road, we are moving to certain destination. Have we considered it long enough about the paths we are treading – relationally, career, finances, gifts. We keep borrowing convinced we could be debt-free. We keep neglecting our relationships and hope we will have great friends and family. Then we wonder why we are lonely and broke.
Just as roads lead to a certain destination, so do our choices. Let us choose our paths wisely.
Thanks for reading..