Many Roads

The assignment at the spiritual journaling group I attended last Wednesday night:

Bring some music that best reflects your present stage in life and tell us why.

At first I was a little stumped, but after I listened to a new Andrew Peterson CD I got with Christmas iTunes money, a song recommended itself and I got excited about the assignment. I listened to it a few times and it just got better. Here are a few treasures from Andrew Peterson's "Many Roads," on his new album "Counting Stars."

He's talking about the many roads that bring concert-goers all together in one place, listening to the same song. But there are broader applications when thinking about how God weaves together all the many roads of our lives.

Roads are made up of "a million minuscule decisions in a line" - all those little things that seem uninspiring or repetitive or silly or too short or unseen -- they are the things that shape the direction of our lives.

Andrew says he'll sing with all he has to give, pretty, in tune, not forgetting the words to any chorus, bridge, or verse: he is doing what is before him with excellence. Am I?

He's also going to "cast out all these lines," to try, to dream, to go. He's willing to put something of himself out, to be vulnerable, to hope.

And speaking of hope, every chorus speaks of the many hopes and the many fears that were meant to bring the people to right where they are. Makes me think of another song about hopes and fears, and how they were met one night in Bethlehem. Which makes me think of Eric's Christmas e-mail last month about the inseparable connection between Christ and longing. If we follow our deepest hopes, all the many roads will lead us to one place: Jesus Christ.

I can look back and see how the roads I've been on have led me closer to Jesus. And I can look ahead and know that the end will be with Him. What's in between is a little foggy still (as Mom said in her Christmas letter, there are curves and no doubt a few surprises).

At the moment, there are many roads that are open before me. But as Andrew reminds us, we are not in charge of our own roads although it may sometimes feel like we are in the driver's seat. When we get to the end, we will say, "We were meant to be right here all along."