It’s a long and winding road, this journey of life.
Sometimes, I walk on the mountain top where it is sunny and exhilarating.
Other times, I walk along a stream down in the valley where it is cool and refreshing.
Sometimes there is a fork on the road and I must choose.
Other times there is a happy confluence of paths, serendipitous moments
when people, places and things just come together and the whole universe makes sense.
Sometimes I walk alone, but always there are people on the same path:
walking with me, passing me by, meeting and greeting me,
offering help, friendship and companionship.
Sometimes the path becomes thorny and even dangerous.
Other times there is no path at all and I may feel lost.
But I just need to remember that
there is always a life-giving and loving Presence by my side.
He’s got us all in the palm of his hands.
The journey is ever new. Every day is different.
Yet, there are recurring themes and places along the journey.
I know the I will pass through life but once.
But there often that eerie feeling that I have been here before.
Sometimes, it seems to me that nothing has changed in my life after all these years.
It seems that I have been fighting the same devils and
struggling with the same problems all the time.
I still hunger for the same pleasures and luxuries.
I still lust for wealth, power and fame. And yes, carnal pleasures.
I am still envious of the success of others.
I believe I have mellowed but I often still come across as aloof and arrogant.
I guess I have been that for so long that I have put on the overbearing looks and actions
even without me meaning to.
I realize now that my life is not just one journey, but several, a series of journeys.
Because I can be hardheaded, I have to learn the same lessons over and over again.
But each time in a different context. Under new circumstances. With new people.
Or, the same people but who, like me, have changed.
And each journey is a quest, each quest a mission,
each mission leading to a new realization and a fresh lesson.
Alongside my yearning for completion and fulfillment is
an on-going struggle between the noble and the ignoble in me:
whether I will choose to do good or wallow in mediocrity,
to move forward or stagnate where I am.
It is the eternal battle between good and evil, between light and darkness,
between love and hate.
As I go through each journey, which are really the phases in my life,
there are nuanced changes in what brings me completion and fulfillment
as well as who the devils and demons that I have to face face and fight,
and the angels and good Samaritans who accompany me and help me along
in this wonderful journey called life.