Roads

Today is Emmaus Sunday.
I love this Gospel reading of the disciples meeting the risen Jesus on the road, and how He explains to them all that points to Him in Scripture.
As disciples, meeting Him on the road, and walking with Him, brings us understanding and awareness of so many things that we would never have been able to figure out for ourselves. He gives us insight through the Holy Spirit, and He is there when we pray and when ask.

The road to Emmaus was the place for the disciples to learn, it was the place for teaching and discovery. It was where Jesus chose to meet them. They were going somewhere, they had a destination when they set out, and they had no idea who they would meet along the way, and what would happen. He could have met them anywhere, but He chose the road.

There are so many things to ponder when it comes to roads, and they seem to be a recurring theme for me lately. I have found them showing up in my thoughts, in my stories, in the things that I read and it is so amazing where they lead!!

I am on my own personal road. It is the life that I have walked, and all the places and things that I have come to and picked up along the way. All the places that I have felt loved and cared for, some places where I have felt alone, and all the things that I have learned, as I have gone along, about who I am and what I am meant for.

I am reading these three books right now, and roads seem to be a theme:

There are the roads that I find in literature and Scripture. The road to Emmaus certainly, but also the theme of roads in the Lord of the Rings, Les Mis, Night, and so many others. Roads and paths. Some taking people to places of joy and beauty, and others taking people through the valley of the shadow of death.

We are all on the path of life, and that path converges with others, the road broadens, and we walk together. We walk, and we share and we gather experiences and tools for the life that we will find further down the road. God always provides us with the things that we will need, and most of the time we don't even know why we pick them up and put them into our pack. It is only later, as we come to a place that we couldn't possibly have foreseen, that we pull out that gift, or experience or trait, and we can see that it is just the thing for the situation. We have to trust that He is giving us what we will need for where He will ask us to go.

God is so good!! Nothing is wasted, and all things are gifts for the road.
Keep your eyes up and open. Walk briskly but don't go so fast that you can't see the things that are there to simply enjoy. When the going gets tough, when it seems like the hill will never end, keep going because the view at the top will be amazing!
When it seems like it is just too dark to take another step, reach out and find a hand to hold. Reach out and find someone who is holding a light. Walk together.

Just remember that when the journey is over, He will be with you, you will go in to the house together and you will know Him in the breaking of the bread, which is the wedding feast of the Lamb.