Path Before Us by Barry Hughes

One of things that strikes me with every walk is how amazingly straight the sidewalks are in my neighborhood. With every turn I make onto a new block I am greeted with a similar view. All the houses are different. The varieties and sizes of trees are different. The cars in the driveways and parked at the curbs are different. And, at this point, I can always trust that what I stumble upon along the way will be unique and different. But the long view of my path always stretches into the distance, always disappearing from view at some point, always calling me forward.

On this day I pondered the ways life seems similar to this image of these now familiar sidewalks. Life stretches out before us, calling us forward, but always disappearing somewhere on the horizon. We never can quite see the next block. We know it is there, but it always remains just out of our vision. We never really know what’s next until we get there, no matter how deeply we would like to know ahead of time.

I suppose that is why I am sensing a change in the way I walk my path each day. For a long time I have tended to put most of my focus on that vanishing point, on that point just beyond my vision. Now, I don’t believe that there is anything wrong with preparing and planning and being intentional about the future. In fact, that is a very big part of my job! But I have come to understand that the steps directly in front of me, the part of the path I’m currently on, deserves my focus and attention as well.

How often have I missed the diversity of the house styles and the beauty of the trees and the little surprising gifts along the way because I have been straining to see that part of the path that will always be beyond my vision? What beauty have I failed to see? What love have I failed to embrace? What gifts have I passed unaware of their treasure? What aspects of my own experience as a human being have I pushed down and held back, all for the sake of the path that lies beyond my vision?

I’ll deal with the next block when I get there. Today I’m going to fully see and fully experience the block I am on at each particular moment. I’ll trust the part of the path I cannot see to the One who has walked with me through these many miles and many years. Today I will embrace today’s gifts, fully and with gratitude.

Peace.