Stumbling Down this Broken Road

     I don't really know how to put what I am saying into words, but I figured I might as well try anyway. I mean, what have I got to lose? I won't be able to explain it very well and no one will know what the heck I am talking about, but that happens most of the time anyway.
     How is it that we can define the purpose of our lives? Of course, anyone who grew up in any reformed church will immediately start up with the first catechism question, "What is the chief end of man?", and then follow up with the answer, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." But finding a practical application for this in your life is just a little more complicated. So I know that my life should be centered on giving glory to my Father, and enjoying being in fellowship with Him. But how does that translate into the direction of my life. How does that help me in deciding between going to work for this church or that church, moving there or staying here. It seems to me I can just as well do one or the other for God's glory. So how do I decide between these potentially life-changing directions? Sometimes I feel like I am just stumbling down this broken road like a blind man, with no idea whether I am going forwards or backwards. So what can we do to find the direction to go? What can we do to find our specific purpose in life? Honestly I am not very sure, besides earnest prayer I'm not sure what else you can do.

     And how does this first catechism question give me purpose, practically? In other words, how does it give me the answer to the question of , "God put me on this earth to _____." Or, I guess a better way to word that would be, "God out me on this earth to glorify and enjoy Him by _____." Everybody always seems so sure of what they want to do with their lives, but allow me to join the minority and admit that I am not. Sooner or later we have to choose which road we are going to take with our lives. Now I am not talking about choosing between the straight and narrow road or the the easy and wide road that leads to destruction. I am talkng about choosing between this straight and narrow or that straight and narrow. When we have 3 or 4 different paths laid out before us, what is the ultimate decider that will finally push us down a path, and even after we are on one, how do we know it is the one we are supposed to be on? I think perhaps the only safe thing to say is that it requires much earnest prayer and seeking of God's will. This isn't the direction I was planning on going when I started typing this, but the more and more I wrote, the more I saw that there is nothing we can do on our own to find meaning or direction for our lives. All things are in vain outside of the Lord, so seeking the road we should take on our own really is a pointless endeavour. Ok, well I think this is enough rambling for now...

I figured this was fitting, considering what I was talking about:

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The Road Not Taken






TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,


And sorry I could not travel both


And be one traveler, long I stood


And looked down one as far as I could


To where it bent in the undergrowth;






Then took the other, as just as fair,


And having perhaps the better claim,


Because it was grassy and wanted wear;


Though as for that the passing there


Had worn them really about the same,






And both that morning equally lay


In leaves no step had trodden black.


Oh, I kept the first for another day!


Yet knowing how way leads on to way,


I doubted if I should ever come back.






I shall be telling this with a sigh


Somewhere ages and ages hence:


Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—


I took the one less traveled by,


And that has made all the difference.