Forks in the Road

I wake up each morning to face a life which is the result of the choices I have made in the past. Of course, some choices were good, and some were bad, but the result of those choices is what life is today.

I envision that a choice is like a fork in the road. Once you choose the fork and travel on it, you will forever experience life because of that decision. Now, I imagine that if you immediately realized that the choice you made was wrong, you could choose again and correct it with little damage. This is very much like being lost on a Sunday drive and realizing after a block that you turned right instead of left, so you reverse course and go back in the right direction. But what if you travel the wrong direction for a thousand miles? Now you are living with the results of that wrong choice.

The further we travel from those good or bad choices leads us to the destination which we are at today with all the things we have seen, experienced, and acquired along the way. What makes life interesting is that not long after we have made a choice at the fork in the road, there will be another fork, and another fork after that. Life is constantly about making choices for the roads to travel.

Though it seems like some people cannot for the life of them make a wise choice, it is good to know that although a bad choice was made, the next choice can be good. That is what life is all about, the series of good and bad choices.

I am 70 years old. I have traveled the road of forks for a long time, and it has brought me to where I am today. If I were to go back to the fork where I made my first choice, and reviewed all the rest of my “fork-in-the-road” choices, and I changed those choices, would my life be completely different than it is today? Well, yes it would. It would be completely different, but would it be better?

I may have a different job, different education, different friends, and a different wife which would then mean different children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. I would have none of the wonderful experiences that 70 years have brought me with the life I have today. They would be 70 years of a different life’s experiences and chances are they would make me no happier or fulfilled.

My point of view is from ground level. Sometimes, although I have planned, I still cannot see far enough down the fork options to know that the choice I made was wise. I depend then on a God who can see my life from his perspective. A sovereign God who knows my route and the forks I will choose in the length of my life. Each wrong choice that he allows me to make is a life learning experience and each correct choice is a blessing. Regardless of how I view my choice, I can know that all things will work together for good because I love him, believe that he wants the best for me, and believe that I am called to follow his purpose for my life.

The forks in the road. The choices made. Someday I hope to look back at my life’s journey and recognize that though I thought that I was calling all the shots, God had it in control the whole time.

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