When The Obstacle Is The Path

The Quest We jump, we throw ourselves in: aaaaaand we’re off and running toward the goal of becoming whom we were created to be and doing what we were made to do in the world. Somewhere along the line, however, we aren’t getting anywhere. Everyday we are faced with the same issues: we’re doubtful, discouraged, depressed, despondent: whatever. We are at a stand still.

We decide the obstacle on our path is with the people with whom we have surrounded ourselves. Maybe it’s the church/ community/ friends, the leaders, or the job that is keeping us from moving out and moving on. “Come on. It can’t be me.” We criticize and castigate, we condemn and we depart, seeking a more faithful people or a more advantageous atmosphere for “becoming” and “doing.” In no time at all, we are doubtful, discouraged, depressed, despondent: whatever.

From here, we will make one of two decisions:

1)    The Quest is nonsense, idiotic, bogus;

2)    Stay put

Choosing Door Number Two, we accept who we are, where we are, and what we are. (This doesn’t necessarily mean we approve.) We live our lives, we go about our work, we seek to love God, others, and self; we eat, we pray, we go to bed. Tomorrow, we rinse and repeat. And in the forgetting of getting on down the path, we actually end up getting somewhere.

Sometimes getting from Here to Here is exactly what we need to be doing.

Sometimes the drive for making progress is filled with pride and vanity.

Sometimes we idealize The Path, and “progress” becomes an idol that beats the living daylights out of us.

Sometimes it is not growth we are after but escaping from dealing with the consequences of our past failures.

Sometimes staying put is the only way to move forward.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2013