The Road

The road taken on this spiritual journey of faith in Christ is not quite as clear as the yellow brick road that took Dorothy to the Emerald City.  Neither does it always have the visual appearance as did Bunyan's road from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City.  In the beginning the road ahead may seem certain and clear, but what we soon find out is that it is actually nothing like we expected.  In a recent reading entitled "The Soul's Slow Ripening," Christine Valters Paintner quotes a line of poetry from Antonio Machado which reads, "wanderer, there is no road, the way is made by walking."

 

Sometimes we read something and every part of us seems to step back at the profound truth before us.  The image created by the lines of the poet has a kind of power to awaken us to such a moment.  It is an image that reminds us that the road we would pave with our own expectations is not really the road upon which Christ walks and leads us.  What we have found out through the years of walking is that the only step which is certain is the next step.  And, sometimes we realize that the next step is not guaranteed, but is only anticipated by faith. 

"A way made by walking" creates an image that is more faithful to reality than any road paved with personal expectations.  Some days in the summer when the hay fields are thick and lush, I walk out through it to see if it ready for baling, or to see if it is being attacked by army worms in some distant place.  As I move through the knee high grass, a way is created by each step.  I can look behind and see the pushed down trail I have left, but the way forward is only created by the next step.  Such is how it really is on this road we call our faith journey.