Our Journey that is Life

This could very well be the first spiritual writing I ever did.  It was written back when I was a teenager in high school, so keep that in mind as you read it.  I didn't go back and edit anything as I wanted to preserve it in its originality.

It has been repetitively said that life is a journey, not a destination.  The only destination in life is its end, which is the only guarantee.  But life is a journey, with many places on the way to come to stop and enjoy it.  It is also a continual learning experience that we must take away from.  Also, it is a journey that we make together with the people around us.  Some of us stay on the same path together while many others come take different paths along the way, and some come onto yours and then depart, for either good or bad, they come or leave. 

However in life there are small roads that we travel on.  Small side streets that are various goals in life, these may have ending, such as a goal or a self achievement.  So I say that life itself can be labeled as a road.  Some with separate journeys.  All of these roads are subject to change.  There are instances where we may get deterred from the projected path and need to take an alternate route.  However we must ourselves choose which roads and which oaths that we will travel down.  However we will come to see that some of these choices are controlled by outside forces. 

Many parts in life can be looked at as broken roads with many ruts, ditches, and potholes with its fare share of detours and distractions.  On this particular idea for life as a road is easily imagined.  There are two roads to be spoken of.  These are the journey on the road of life in relationships with others.  Also the journey on the road of life to a relationship of knowing and of friendship with God the Father. 

It is most recognizable to see this parallel of a broken road with friendships, both social and intimate.  Through our lives we see the changes of the people around us, in individual personalities and the different people passing through our lives.  Our friends help to mold us in life, as we help to mold them.  We all affect each other in the race of humanity.  We make some friends briefly but for specific reasons, for both ourselves and the acquaintance.  Also most enjoyably we make friends that we have with us throughout our entire lives, these are the most close to us, and who know who we truly are.  For these friends for life we take throughout our journey and to the end of it.

It is very important to care for the well being of all of those around us.  We all take responsibility for each others acts, especially when in such circles of friends. It is the job of all to guide each other down the right paths.  Sometimes it becomes necessary to put our friends down separate paths with the best of intentions, and not to know if your paths shall ever cross again.  However sometimes it is not done with the best of intentions, but regardless it has been felt needed for somewhat of betterment.  It should first be tried to better a person whose actions or beliefs are conflicting with those of a good morality.  Sometimes we find this can not be done to which we find ourselves turning ourselves away or turning the other away.  This broken road gives us the question of should we not be compassionate to the other?  Sometimes it comes to a point where another’s actions are too destructive for the group to handle, and you should seek a further means to seek change.  Through these difficulties we can see that there is much of a broken road through the journey of life involving friendships with those around us. 

We must also take the advice of those trying to help to mold us.  We must be the perceptive to those who try to genuinely better us.  We must be able to distinguish between positive and negative influences; this is the utmost important reasoning we as humans must have a distinguishing between good and evil.  This is a prime example of the ongoing battle between good and evil, come to the surface in our everyday lives.  People of both persuasions will come into our lives; it is out task to take the good and accept them and to encourage them in their ways.  It is also out task to take the bad and try to turn them around and set them on the proper path.  It is important to not let those of a negative force negatively affect you and your companions.  It is times like these that become the most trying and we feel despair.  This road is filled with its fare share of bumps; we must take these and overcome, and search for the good in all people. 

In companionship of friends there is a parallel lane, this is the road of relationship, and companionship towards a more intimate idea.  Companions we come in touch with in our hearts and in our souls.  From them, we learn the most about our inner self, and our soul.  We may come along many of these or we may come along few.  These people are some of the ones that we ourselves learn the most from about life itself.  It is often seen that with companions we act in a carried state of mind, we feel free from judgment in this free state, we find ourselves able to open up who we are, so that we may come closer to the other.  We have the opportunity to learn from them, just as they too have the same given opportunity to learn from us.

In the search for companionship we see most parallel this idea and use of the broken road vision.  Those whom we meet and part with help us to refine ourselves as people and make clear what it is that we seek, and they act as guides on this path on the journey.  They may also act as false messages and misguide us on our journey and give misperceptions.  It is sometimes difficult to recognize true from false, as both are received by our mind and want to be accepted.  We must come to learn from these instances.  Quite often we find things in the road impeding us, or jostling our mindset.  This road is looked at as one of the most important that we will travel on; it is also a key to our discernment in whatever it is that we do in our given time here in the physical world. 

One thing found in this road is to come to feel hatred or resent to some of those who cross the road, for good or bad.  We must not!  This must be seen for the fact that no matter that events occur, they all do happen for some reason, either at hand apparent, or as time progresses, become apparent.  This must be taken into consideration for the Lord works in mysterious ways, which our minds cannot understand.  They are all experiences which we must try to learn from.  There are three main ways we as people tend to learn the best.  We learn quite often from our mistakes, we take what we have done either improperly or have failed at, and try to improve on the actions or decisions.  We also learn through our actions, what we actually do, how to improve on the, or what not to do.  We also learn from what we are taught.  From the very beginning our minds are filled with ideas, which as we age are refined and renewed.  Though there are many ways by which we learn, these are three of the most direct forms from which the others come.  All of these things may occur throughout the course of a relationship, either intimate or social. 

In these modern times there is much to be sad on this topic.  The current culture does not put a positive light onto the subject, and the good moral values of friendship between friends and acquaintances or between two people linked together through their hearts and souls has been lost.  Many people either become by default or by choice a product of their environment.  In some cases this may be positive, but at present, for the most part we see it is not.  We must take the ideals and morals that we know to be good and spread them, and make our environment a product of ourselves.  Outside image projects a vulgar image on that of love and friendship, it shows what is the popular image of the “norm” or “par for the course.”  We must see through these falsities, it is not!  It is a falsely projected image that we can change.  People must do what they feel is right, in their minds, in their hearts, in their souls, and with the good moral values that they have. 

Thus in a relationship of friends we must be true to one another, be peaceful, be humans, we must have levels of equality and brotherhood and sisterhood, and one family of the human race.  There can be no spite between people or hatred; we must come to understand one another.  People must realize that we must tear down the walls of hatred and inequality, and rebuild a vision for peace, and harmony between races and cultures.  In relationships of the soul the people must understand one another, between the two, there must also be equality.  The people need to explore each other mentally and spiritually, and there can be no immoral decisions that will be felt and judged as wrong or sinful.  Relationships join people to come together and know each other as people.

Finally and above all else there is a journey and a road to find the most rewarding of fruit.  This we find is the road and journey to find God.   God is the driving force for the entire universe.  He is the divine creator and the center whom we shall all come to meet at the end of our roads, and finally at the journey’s end.  It is out of the automatic impulse that we engage on this journey and to come into a deep relationship with our heavenly father.  It should be a goal in life to seek out G-d in all that we do.  In this friendship we find ourselves able to turn to God for guidance, mercy, and forgiveness.

As we progress through life it becomes a necessity to search for God.  Through the journey in relationship with Him, this can be done  We do not so much need to come to a relationship with God, but to realize His presence, and the reality that it is already there.  He is always with us, regardless of what we do.  Though we have our times of darkness and despair, where we come to question ourselves and what it is we believe, He is there.  He has created us all for a reason, and wants to see us succeed.  He wants to see us succeed in the same way that parents wish to see their children succeed, and do well.  In this same instance we are all children of God, we all matter to Him. 

We can come to see that the parallel images of a broken road and a journey lead us somewhere.  Some lead to learning and growing, while some lead to intimate relationships and understanding and compassion, either with another person, or the Father.  God has given us the great gift of free will, we must not abuse this power, and we must use it to guide ourselves on the paths of life.  We will be on this journey for a very long time, a lifetime.  We are on this journey from life until death, we have our whole lives to explore and grow in our own souls.  It is simply a matter of thinking and taking the self initiative to do so.  But remember God blessed this broken road, that leads us straight to a reality, to a person, and to God.