The Path

by Julie Walton, Ph.D./Calvin College

Our college campus is beautiful in spring after shaking off a long winter of snowy slop and gray, glum skies.  The grass greens up first, then the forsythia buds and the robins return, robust and busy.  Students begin studying in the sunshine as if saying hello to a long lost companion.  But, for me, the real sign of spring is a muddy path that appears between the dorms and the science building. 

This shortcut is avoided in winter when it’s knee-deep in snow, when paved paths are plowed.  But, come the first major melt, the tender grass is scuffed away by hundreds of footfalls.  Every year I expect the college landscapers to simply give up and pave that path, since it is the proverbial shortest distance between two points.  Yet, every year, they leave the path alone, a stark reminder of our penchant for making our own way in the world, oblivious to the paved paths already laid out for us.

What makes us so willing to take the shortcuts in life?  To ignore God’s mapped out routes?  Why does something that seems simpler appeal to us?  Why does having to take the long way around vex us?  Water flows downhill.  Most of us choose not to stand when a seat is available.  It seems that the natural order of things is to follow a path of least resistance.  Paths of least resistance are easy, and we justify them in our own minds by believing them to be the most efficient and stewardly in terms of time and energy.  Of course, it frustrates me when my students choose a path of least effort, adopting a “just going to get by” attitude.

Jesus promised our way would be easy- if we would just bend down and take up His yoke (Matthew 11:29-30).  Yokes symbolize hard, grueling, sweaty, dusty work.  Thankfully, Jesus was using the metaphor of a double yoke, saying, in essence, “Work beside me and your load will be lighter, your burdens lifted.  Let me set the pace, the rhythms and the direction of your life.”  The result of this obedience?  A life filled with trust, learning, meaning, and rest.  As your students move through their 2-3-4 years at your institution, keep encouraging them to work alongside the Lord. 

Sometimes we plow ahead on our own, burying ourselves so deeply in our work, carrying the whole load alone, that we fail to see the Lord waiting to help and guide us.  From a wellness perspective, these are the times we exhaust ourselves and feel prone to burnout.
Other times, we cut corners and shirk the work set before us, not bearing our fair share of the load, selfishly letting God-given opportunities slip our grasp.  Either way,  we deny the Lord’s leading.  We make our own paths and view the ready-made Way either with contempt or apathy- if we even bother to look for it, that is.

Look down at your feet.  Where have they walked today?