Sidewalks

How do sidewalks get there? Sounds like a dumb question......... because it is.  Sidewalks are built by people.  Why do people build sidewalks, paths and other roads? Because they want to get somewhere, more specifically because they go somewhere often and want the trip to be easier. Before roads, paths, and sidewalks, there were a lot of things to trip on, so people (intentionally, and unintentionally) made paths to get to the places they wanted to be.  There are essentially two types of paths; purposefully built ones and naturally made ones. Both of these present some pretty awesome metaphors.

First, we have paths that were intentionally created.  I use and see them EVERY day, without fail. I don't think I have ever been in a place where there was not an intentionally made path within eyesight. These paths always lead somewhere, even ones that seem to go nowhere, no one builds a path for the sake of building a path.  There is a sidewalk at OC that ends in a staircase to an open field, it is commonly referred to as the staircase to nowhere, and it seems that it leads... well.. nowhere.  In reality though, this sidewalk was also built with a purpose; the field it runs into was once used as an airstrip for the president's personal airplane.  The point here is that every path built by humans was built for the purpose of traveling to the places we visit often. People don't build highways to the middle of a desert, they build them to places they want to go.

This is the premise for the second type of path; the routes we travel often develop paths whether we intended to build them or not.  These types of paths show up pretty quickly in snow, mud, sand, dirt... That's pretty much all the description necessary for unintentional paths.

Here's why I'm writing about paths; they apply. This is how they apply; In my life, it is easy for me to identify the things that I do over and over again and the places I find myself time and time again.   There are trails sidewalks and highways all over the place, some leading to the things I need in my life, some leading to things that only hold me back.  There are trails that I am ashamed of, leading to places I do not want to go but I find myself visiting all too often.  These trails and paths represent the people I interact with, the ways I treat others, the words I use, the ways I choose to spend my time and much more.

There's a little bit more to this metaphor though, the other part has to do with the paths I choose to take.  I can choose to take the paths I built with my own strength, or I can choose to follow the path my Creator intended for me to follow. Not only follow that path, but quit building my own paths all together, I know I follow His path at least some of the time, but I need to cut out all of the other paths that split off and go somewhere else.  Once again though, it doesn't end with just walking on God's path.  If a man walks along a path he built himself, he will never fall because he knows the path, but he will also never arrive anywhere better than where he was. If a man follows God's path, he will stumble, but if the man walks with God on God's path, he will never be left to stumble long.

I not only need to stay on the path I didn't make, but I also need to trust God to guide me along the path and set my pace.