The End of the Road

When I was a kid, I had a fascination with driving every inch of a road.  I was particularly interested in boulevards and such that I traveled in every day routine but usually didn't have time or legs sufficient to explore.  When I got my first car, I drove a good many of those and ran them out to their end.

Highways too were a priority for me.  I've driven every mile of Interstate 5 and US 395.  Both are amazing journeys in their own right.  (I'm also in love with the dirt paths and small lanes that split off of these arteries but that's another story.)

Usually though, we don't push through to the end.  We jump on and off highways on our way to something completely incidental to the road.  Most of us are pretty easily distracted.

All of us though, eventually come to the end of the road.  For some, this happens tragically early.  For others, it is a painful, jarring surprise.  It is usually painful and always a loss.  I wonder about where we might have left our maps, our intent to finish, our heart for the drive and as always, the wonder at all that passes by.  I have at times in my life, forgotten completely that the road and the journey both have ends.  However, I seem to be one that put's great stock in consulting maps and landmarks and these always, eventually serve to remind.

My maps are the Christian bible and the love it teaches along with the promise and reality of Christ lived out in lives I know.  I do get lost on side roads, but my maps always return me to the highway.

I find myself in this part of my life, to be a bit of a guide.  I like helping those who are sitting in a cul de sac someplace, spinning the map to make sense of the road. I like to help them find their way back to the highway.  It's okay to give directions and sometimes that's all that circumstance allows.  It's much better for all though, if you can actually get in the car and ride a long for awhile, maybe even taking your turn at the wheel.  That last part is not always easy.  It can be hard to give up your own journey for someone else's, even if it's only for a while.

Finally, the road is long and it can be fairly rough.  Sometimes directions don't help with the "long" and "rough."  That's when just reading to someone driving, engaging in conversation with them or reminding them of the wonder of the journey both behind and before, being a present friend, can make the journey so much more enjoyable, peaceful and complete.