The Path to No Where

Earlier today my husband, Thor (our dog) and I, took off to hike the mountain that borders the edge of town and looms upward from our backyard. We accessed a path not far from our house and began the climb. At first it was a straight up, long climb and then eventually leveled off when we hit some woods. From there we had a variety of paths to choose. Some led upwards to an even higher level, some were challenging to navigate and some took us on downhill treks that gave us a breather. Knowing they all just meandered along the mountainside not going anywhere in particular, I named our hike The Path to No Where.

As we hiked along, I noticed it was necessary to stay present with where we were at the given moment. The terrain was rough in places and it would have been easy to trip over the exposed roots of a tree, or a rut in the ground.

There were places that there was a lot of overgrowth that stimulated our creativity in getting through the mazes of limbs and branches and picker bushes.

At times, I needed a hand since it was challenging to climb using my own strength.....especially in the places where there was mud and the ground seemed to slide under my feet.

On the path to nowhere it was sometimes confusing where we were in the moment and how much farther we had to go. In fact, although we were never really very far from home, sometimes it felt like we were on another planet. Our surroundings were unfamiliar and it was easy to lose a sense of direction.

Eventually, we ended up on the same path that delivered us back to our street. In the short walk home on a paved road, I compared the experience of our hike to the path to nowhere that we walk in life.

Every step of the way mirrors the hike through life. We don't know what is coming next and it is important to be present with where we are in this moment; Sometimes it is challenging, sometimes easier; Sometimes we need to be creative to get through challenging situations; Sometimes we need a hand, other times we lend a hand.

Lastly, even when we stray off in some direction that may not be the best for us, or that may be confusing or even frightening, we can always find our path home. All we have to do is remember where we started.