Choosing a Path – Prayerful Tuesday

Psalm 23: 1-3  The Lord is my shepherd: I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me to water in places of repose; He renews my life; He guides me in right paths as befits his name. (The Jewish Study Bible, Tanakh Translation)

I subscribe to a Native American spirituality site, White Bison (www.whitebison.org), and recently I received the following daily meditation:

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – September 21

“everything is laid out for you. Your path is straight ahead of you. Sometimes it’s invisible but it’s there. You may not know where it’s going, but still you have to follow that path. It’s the path to the Creator. That’s the only path there is.”  — Leon Shenadoah, ONANDAGA

When I read this and held in my heart for awhile I recognized the truth in the statement.  However, I also saw that we are not given just one path, and many paths lead to the Creator.  Every day, every second of every day, we are asked to choose the path we will follow.  The choice is not always clear, nor is always easy.  Most often we are asked to make our choices quickly without thought and while these choices may seem insignificant it won’t be until much later do we realize how important they were.

I don’t have the answers to choosing the “right” path, as if any path could really be wrong. For me when I let go of my ego control and let The Great Spirit take the reins of my life the choices become easier, not easy, but easier.  I know I will still end up walking some dark and dangerous road instead of the one in sunshine, but I will also not feel I am alone on that scary path.

Letting go of our ego and releasing our control is hard spiritual practice to follow and one that I start over with every single day.  But there are rewards.  When I do let go I find that I am at peace with my choice of path and that I can smile and bear the difficulties much better.  Right now I am struggling with letting go and am on a path I am not sure of.  I keep saying ‘I can do this, I don’t need anyone else,’ but I know that is false.  I can’t do my life by myself!  I need the comfort of The Great Spirit and so I practice letting go.   Even though I slip back every day, and there will be doubt,  I grab onto the hand of the Spirit and haul myself up to the next step, the next place.

Do you have difficulty letting go of your control as you choose your paths?  What do you do to help you choose the next path, do you release your control of your life, or do you, just as I do, often say ‘I can do this by myself?’

Ruth Jewell, ©September 29, 2015