Which Way

One of the more significant insights from Lewis Carroll's novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, comes in a conversation between Alice and the Cheshire Cat:

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.

"I don't much care where –" said Alice.

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.

"– so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.

"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

The situation seems rather humorous at first; but when you stop to consider how many people are facing a quandary quite similar to the one Alice is confronting, you realize these circumstances are disturbing—if not tragic. There is no telling how many people, who claim to be looking for direction in their life, have never stopped to consider the destination they want to reach. They have never sorted through the many competing desires that pass through their life to identify the few longings that are most important to them. They have never settled the matter of which values are worth standing for. They have never connected to a cause that claimed their full allegiance. They are merely headed “somewhere.”

In his book, The Principle of the Path, Andy Stanley writes, “The direction you are currently traveling—relationally, financially, spiritually, and the list goes on and on—will determine where you end up in each of those respective arenas.”

The question remains: “Where [do] you want to get to?” If you want to move toward a destination where you can experience deep and satisfying relationships, where you can express your gifts and talents in ways that enrich the lives of others, and where you can begin to sense the delight of God; I invite you to focus on the longings and yearnings of your heart and mind. Ask God to help you identify those passions which lead to life and joy and peace. And then it will be much clearer “which way [you] ought to go from here.”