The Winding Path is the Closest Distance Between You and Revelation - Grasshopper

Did you ever wonder why the path of life is not a straight line? It's designed to wind so that you get to meet more of God's creations.

There are efficiency experts who help us get from point A to point B in the least amount of steps and thank God for them. Yet, the best efficiency expert, God, has us take what seems to be a circuitous route to revelation.

The on and off ramps are a necessary part of life. This is where we can stop and take a breather and then get back on our road rested and nourished. Notice that when we are traveling, that others join our trek. We meet people who travel with us, sometimes for a very long time and others just for abbreviated periods. Some suddenly exit our route without warning in search of another path. All whom we meet and travel with are guides to get us to our ultimate destination - revelation.

Where you are now is a collection of the steps you have taken to reach this point. You can only be at the point where you are now. You may have planned to be somewhere else but this location is the only one available at the moment. This is your cue to make the most of the moment - each moment.

All the people you meet were orchestrated to join you at this spot at this specific time. There is no telling how long these people will be a part of your journey, and it's imperative that you accept all whom you meet as necessary members of your walking tour. They are there for purposes past reason.

Many plan to be in Toledo but are in St. Louis. If you don't pay attention to the moment, you may miss seeing the archway to your future. If you have to map every step on your journey, you are a straight line planner, not a traveler.  You keep looking at the map and miss seeing the scenery.  I don't know who said it but the wisdom is sage:

"Life is what happens when you were making other plans."

There is an aliveness to life that many of us don't experience. We are too busy trying to recapture pieces of the past and assemble them into a fixed form which has us become as rigid as that which we are trying to mold. These statues are frozen memories that cannot dance. They cannot add to our aliveness now.

Pay attention really means to give attention. Give attention to what's in front of you now. Set your map aside and enjoy the aliveness of each moment and the aliveness of each fellow traveler that you meet. These travelers will reveal the next step you are to take at the precise time you are to take it. If you don't give attention to them, you will miss the lesson this person was born to teach you at this time and the aliveness they have to offer.  If you miss their lesson, you will continue to suffer and be the walking dead. Your journey will continue and you will meet others who will look different but they'll have the same message for you - make this moment alive.

The revelation is to be alive and to be attentive to the step you are currently taking. This attention will keep each moment alive and not something that you attempt to put into concrete form and display in a museum.

Trust that each alive moment will lead to another one and the path will wind and bend and you won't care, because you'll finally realize that a predetermined route can never match the miracle of the moment.

All the best,
John