Crossroads are fun! We travel down the road until we see something ahead. Denoted by a stop sign or a stop light, perhaps a yield sign or perhaps nothing. But, it’s something that requires a choice. Do we continue down the same path or are we to divert our current trajectory and make a change?
Often, there are many roads to the same destination. Right now, I’m trying to figure out the quickest way to work. One way is the shortest way, but requires several turns and twists in the road and I can’t travel as fast. The other way is mostly highway, but longer. Going to work, there is a 30+ second differential. The shortest way is, in fact the shortest in time as well. However, during that particular testing time, the roads were clear on the slower way. I wasn’t held up by any traffic. This morning, the “shortest” way was much longer due to traffic. I failed to time it, but I’m sure it would have been 2 minutes longer.
There are times, however, when the road choice isn’t about the fastest way to the same destination. It’s about different destinations altogether. And those are the tough crossroads. New York or LA? Chocolate or vanilla? Ford or Chevy? OK, those are poor examples.
So, what to tell a friend when it appears they are at that sort of crossroads? Especially when I am connected to them and that choice could affect me? The truth. As I am “connected” to my past, I certainly encourage a look back to see if there are any patterns. As we see patterns, we look ahead to see how/if that would affect the future. And then make the best decision we can given all the information at present. And lots of prayer.
As I look to my day yesterday, it at first appeared that I wasn’t relying on my past experience to help solve the problems of the day. And, admittedly, I wasn’t necessarily on my top game. However, A day later, it becomes clearer and I find that the excuses I was trying to resolve in my mind are actually real, not excuses at all. We learn from our crossroads, the small ones, the large ones and everything in between. Everyday we are presented with crossroads. Lord, help me, help others, to use those crossroads to become better people.
