The Path Less Traveled....

[photo - DJohanson, 2008]

This extraordinary photograph so captures the eye that that mind is immediately drawn into it.  The pathway is not smooth, it is narrow and apparently treacherous, but the promise of the horizon in the distance is that treasures await at the end.  It is as if there is a gentle voice that calls one onward.  "Keep coming, keep going, one step in front of the other.  Enjoy the beauty that is all around you but nothing compares to the beauty that lies ahead."

Jesus, of course, used this idea of a "narrow path" in his illustration of the two "ways" of this dispensation.  There is that path, often and numerously trod, that is wide and easy to walk.  It's delights are entirely ephemeral and deceitful.  The prospects of its horizon are murky at best because the promises of that road cannot ever be fulfilled.  Fleshly pleasures pass, all too quickly, and, in the dark moments in between, the nagging suspicion of their emptiness causes many a worried eye to scan the horizon ahead for assurance.  But none are forthcoming.

The other "way" of this eon, is the strenuous uphill path with many stones to turn your ankle and the solemn reality of a steep crossing incline that threatens both above and below.  Here, the way is not crowded for few there are that walk it, but in the words of the old song, they never "walk alone."  The comforts along this path are real but not to be mistaken with those fleshly ones of the other path.  There is an austere beauty, a sharp severity to life on this walk.  The cool air is bracing but induces the shivers.  The awesome vistas constantly inspire the mind but they also constantly remind us of our relative puniness.  

But always, there is the promise of the horizon.  The sharp line of the summit where the road turns downward and easy to walk.  Where the view is complete and we know even as we are fully known and the mountain of delight communicates its truth, gorgeous and eternal, to our every sense.

Such are the thoughts that come to mind as I ponder this image and I do not think the meditation is too far removed from Jesus' intent in forming His metaphor which seems so self-evident.

Keep walking... it is and always will be, worth it.

Comments

[max]

Is this wonderful picture copyrighted? Is it for public use? I would appreciate any help and give due credit where indicated.

[Gadfly]

It is copyrighted - please note the attribution at the top of the page below the title. You may use it if you properly attribute it as noted. Please let me know where you publish it so that I may inform my friend, the photographer.

Thanks
Gadfly

[Blace]

Hello Gadfly,

Thank you so much for contacting me. I am an assistant professor of social work at East Carolina University. I would like to use this picture for an on-line research study my colleagues and I are doing on adults with dyslexia, a specific type of learning disability. The picture will be the home page of the survey and will be a symbolic metaphor that illustrates that for an adult with dyslexia, the road to living a successful and satisfying life is not easy, but a long and winding road one travels that will eventually lead to the horizon. If given permission, how exactly do I give credit to the photographer?

Sincerely,

max