The pathway to Life
is neither long nor hard;
it is a short road, really,
that takes us directly
to the inner sanctuary of our souls.

It is not always easy to find
Life there
amidst the clutter, the harshness,
the cavernous emptiness of it all;
but that is where Life truly is,
not out somewhere else,
up in the sky,
or at the shopping mall
where we usually look for god.

It’s not a long journey, really;
it’s actually quite a simple one;
not one we pack our bags for,
and get a road map, and chart a course,
and make our reservations
ahead of time.
It’s a journey that usually takes a lifetime,
but great leaps of it can be made
within a single day.

And even though it is not long,
and need not be that arduous
that doesn’t mean
it can’t be missed
or terribly messed up;
for even along that little road
from here outside bac in to the soul
there are so many false signs,
lying saviours, shallow lovers, deceptive voices
seeking to lure us onto their roads,
to spend the precious coin of our body and spirit
on their flimsy merchandise.

So we resist their call
by not resisting any longer
the call to go within.
This doesn’t mean the greater cause,
the bigger world, isn’t there. It is.
For roads do cross, you know;
they intersect and mingle,
flow together toward the horizon
for a time, creating together
a beautiful, wild highway to Life,
a blessed pathway toward the
ever-larger kingdom of our souls.

jbs
12/17/98          12/10/00