"We can all please God. We must only choose well. Many go abroad to study, pursuing knowledge far from home, but the kingdom of God is always here and now, wherever you are, within you. Precisely because the kingdom is within, and God is our friend, our salvation only requires that we be willing." (Athanasius of Alexandria)
Life is constant discernment. Daily choices - actions and reactions - that in hindsight make a path. Each path is unique, with its own twists and turns. When we are walking the path, we may think we see the future clearly, but because we walk one step at a time we can never be sure that where we think we are going is where we will arrive. Maybe the path will take an unexpected turn. Maybe we'll hit a dead end and have to backtrack. What we do know is that whatever our path, God is walking with us.
Two things strike me about this quote from Athanasius. One, the truth that wherever you go, there you are. Many people travel incessantly or move from place to place because of a restlessness, a feeling that there is a home somewhere that they just haven't yet found - a place where they will feel grounded and whole. But unless we feel grounded and whole already, a different place won't suddenly change us.
Two, the truth that we participate in our own salvation. We must be willing. For a long time, I thought that if I could just listen harder to God, I would know what it was I was to do, where I was to go. This is a passive willingness. "Someone, please tell me what to do." It is based in a fear of not getting it right. If there is only one path to salvation and I veer off it, the consequences are unthinkable. But the work of willingness is deeper than that. It is not standing in the middle of the path waiting for the right way to magically light up. It is taking the step in front of you, the one you can see. Salvation is not the end point of the path. Salvation is available in every step we take, if we take it in confidence. Because salvation is the knowledge that God is with us. If we take a step that leads nowhere, God is with us. If we take a step in the wrong direction, God is with us. We know because our hearts, God within us, tell us. Willingness is listening to our own hearts. We may have to admit we are stuck, or that we are far down the wrong path. Admitting it allows us to go back and correct, or simply to find the strength to move forward.
Take a minute today to look around you on the path of your life. Where are you? What paths are open to you? What is your next step? Know that whatever it is, God is with you. And sometimes, if you're lucky, a friend as well.
