The Path Ahead…

As a Christmas gift this year, my wife, Chris, gave me the book Two Miles an Hour for down-time pleasure reading. Someday I may do a book review on it, but a few of the author’s experiences struck me, particularly since I’ve been thinking about the year ahead with its potential pathways.

In a good chunk of the book, author Robert Buckley recounts day by day his trek on the Coast-to-Coast trail in England. The trail itself is 182 miles long and unlike, say, the Appalachian Trail in the USA, it’s an unofficial and largely unmarked trail. As one might imagine, this presents some interesting challenges, such as finding and staying on the right path!

More than once, Buckley lost the trail. One day, he was walking a 20-mile segment from Shap to Kirkby Stephen through the Yorkshire Dales. The area was wide open and wild, and the path had no markings. The guidebook describes it as a “limestone landscape…rarely visited and relatively unknown, almost a blank on the map.” Since the Coast-to-Coast is not a well-traveled trail, he didn’t have the luxury of following footsteps left by previous hikers, nor was there a well-worn path to follow. A map, a compass, and good instincts are indispensable. He had the map and compass, but instincts failed him. This he discovered after he’d gone quite a way off trail and came upon a monument named “Black Dub,” located in an area declared off limits due to conservation efforts.

As I mentioned, I’ve been thinking about potential pathways ahead. Some, like the one Buckley found himself on, are obscure, almost disorienting. There’s no clear path to follow; it can feel as if no one’s been this way before. Ever. We easily lose our way. But what helps—and Buckley’s experience illustrates this—is first knowing where we want to end up, and then stumbling upon a landmark that reorients us. Incidentally, that’s one reason I believe regular church attendance is helpful. A good one where God’s Word is rightly taught will keep bringing up reorienting “landmarks.”

After the apostle Paul exhorts his protege Timothy to warn others not to teach false doctrine and get people off the right path, he explains why this is so important.

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

1 Timothy 1:5-7

Along the journey, we may find the path is so clearly marked we can walk along without even thinking about it. My wife and I enjoy walking along a paved path that begins in Hoover Park in Sterling, meanders through the woods until it opens up in Sinnissippi Park, and then follows along the Rock River. There’s enough up and down terrain to provide a little bit of a challenge, but generally it’s an easy walk. And because the path is so clear, we can talk as we walk, or simply enjoy the scenery all around us. It’s quite refreshing, even on a cold winter day.

You probably have some daily “paths” like this. Habits or rituals you go through without even thinking what comes next. If they’re good habits, such pathways are very helpful and allow us to give our attention to other things. For example, taking the same route to work every day affords the opportunity to listen to an audio book, pray, meditate, plan the day, or mull over a nagging problem. In Michael Hyatt’s mentoring programs, he recommends establishing morning, workday start-up, workday shut-down, and evening rituals for this reason. On a clearly marked path, you can function on “auto-pilot.”

Somewhere along the way this year, we may find ourselves on a path that leaves us vulnerable and fearfully exposed. The picture above, taken from the summit of Mount Washington looking down to the Lakes of the Clouds Hut, can be deceptively appealing. Looks simple enough on this calm, beautiful, warm early autumn afternoon. After all, it’s only a mile and a half from hut to summit. But imagine heading to the hut when it’s 36°, raining, and the wind is howling at 100 mph. Notice that along that path there are no trees, no outcroppings to hide behind. Nothing. You’re exposed. Vulnerable. At risk.

Hikers are warned to be prepared for such conditions and avoid them if at all possible. Along the Presidential Range in New Hampshire, there are many stretches of trail along the mountain ridgelines similar to this. Knowing what the terrain is like, being aware of the potential of sudden weather changes, and preparing accordingly are incredibly important to successful navigation. This is true of life, as well. Anyone who’s lived more than a couple decades is aware that the path can suddenly change, leaving you exposed and vulnerable. What are you doing now to be prepared? Daily routines including time in the Bible and prayer along with weekly routines of gathering in church can help us prepare.

Paul challenges us in this regard, writing,

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Ephesians 5:15-17

Some paths require special markers—cairns, they’re called—to keep walkers heading the right way. I’ve come across these when hiking in the desert in Arizona as well as on mountain tops above tree line. Generally, someone who knows the trail very well sets up the stack of rocks because he knows how easily someone less familiar—maybe a first-timer on the path—could get off the path and either get lost or spend a long time looking for where the path picks up again. I recall hiking near Sedona, Arizona, and often had to stop and look around for the next cairn. I was grateful someone took the time to set them up.

How helpful it is to have mentors along life’s journey. Those who have walked a path before us, a path lacking obvious direction, will often be able to raise a cairn for us, telling us, “Here’s the next goal. Get here, and then you’ll see the next.”

Consider this counsel from the writer of Hebrews:

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:24-25

And then this as well:

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet….

Hebrews 12:12-13

Sometimes we come to a path reminiscent of Frost’s “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood….” Which way to go? Remember the dialog between Alice and the Cheshire Cat?

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” asked Alice.
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where,” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“— so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

Rather important when we come to the diverged road that we know where we’re wanting to end up. Sometimes life provides us with some kind of signage indicating where each path is headed. Often it requires a bit of discernment to read the signs, but a careful observer will usually get a good sense of it. There are times, though, when the only thing to do is take one path or the other. You pray, you ponder, and then you plod. And if you’re a follower of Jesus, you can sing with the songwriter:

He knoweth the way that I take:

A new heart within He’ll create.

That I may walk worthy and come forth as gold,

He giveth and taketh away.

None of us really knows what the path ahead looks like, do we? We can be fairly certain that what it looks like today is different from what it’ll look like a few months from now. So let’s walk with the One who knows the way ahead and will lead us each step along the path.