Two Roads Diverged...

Do you ever find yourself so far down a road and then start to wonder if you should be taking a diverging path or continuing? Suppose God is calling you to, as Brennan Manning put it, abandon the status quo for an exodus into perilous freedom. . . . But then, as you begin to tentatively seek out options, the questions come. Are you really ready to give it all up? What about the undeniable magic of that path you've pursued for the past however many years of your life? Or are you allowing those dreams to keep you tied to a sort of slavery? Voices from both sides call: some logical and practical, some with an emotional pull, some with that youthful idealism that is not quite all crushed yet under the weight of real life.

I seek to hear the Lord's voice, and I need to hear it clearly to know where to go. It's as if I am standing right at this fork in the road, and whatever next step I take will move me in one direction or another. When you're grown up, the choices aren't as easy as they used to seem as a child. God, what is the plan? I know my plans aren't necessarily always the ones you have in mind. Would you show me clearly where to step? Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and I open my heart to hear your words.

Stubbornly to stand still when the Lord is clearly challenging us to growth is hardheartedness, infidelity, and a dangerous lack of trust. But to start trekking across the desert impulsively without the guidance of the cloud and the fire is reckless folly.

-Brennan Manning, Reflections for Ragamuffins