Clarity

There are times in your life when your whole earth feels shaky and the bottom seems to have cracks in it that threaten to tear the levels beneath your feet solidly apart.

Those are the times when you question the different arrows that point 45 degrees in the most extreme of directions that beckon you along - enticing, coaxing, ordering, threatening and sometimes at its best, propelling you along almost unwillingly, down that hitherto unknown path.

But what path should we take? How does one know which road to take when met with such varying, differing, opposing points of pressure to carry on in a certain manner contrary to the original plan that was set out in your own heart?

Gut feelings, instinct, intuition, the voice in my own heart. I have never failed to listen to that little soft voice inside myself. Sometimes I have to be wary of the tendency to give in to the stronger, stubborn almost resolute part of me that immediately cries “NO” to the slightest of resistance from my outer world to my own plans and thus takes me down the road to oblivion when lessons learnt are exactly the ones mapped out by those who thought wiser than I did, whose advice and words of counsel I deliberately chose to ignore.

In the end, everything is a half chance, a calculated risk or a denial of self and defiance of order.

I believe that life is to be experienced. To be tasted. To be enjoyed. But I also believe in staying safe, only so as not to fall in to the pitfalls that blind obstinacy or careless, lethargic freedom may take me headlong into.

But in order to do all of the above, the best way is to take some time out of the buzz, the noise of this world – the hustle and bustle of all that the media and numerous voices around you well-meaning and otherwise, may crowd your thinking with. Fill your head with. Block the way of your clear train of thought with, and to sit in silence and think. Take time and talk to God. Listen to the beatings of your own heart and temper it with a careful and thoughtful, reflective vision that sees you being the best human being you were meant to be, ultimately taking the best possible path that would be in the best interest of not just yourself but those loved ones around you and most importantly, in line with the values that make you who you are, and define you because you place such importance to those things, no matter what goes on around you.

So if ever you feel that your whole earth is shaky, (and it happens to the best of us at the most peculiar moments of the day, doesn’t it?!) don’t be ruffled, don’t feel lost, don’t act rashly on impulse or on the passionate emotions that fill your panicking head.. There’s always a rational, peaceful, practical, sensible way out.

When I started writing this post, there were questions in my head that needed answers. Lots of potential “paths” to take and an uncertainty that prevailed in my own life with regards to certain relationships and friendships that needed a resurvey in order for me to apply the best options to them, especially when I saw certain “downsides” to a few things that were not quite right in my life.

Prayerlessness, drunkenness and sexual immorality they say, are the black mark hallmarks of today’s society, and my fear was that I was getting drawn to a certain kind of living that wasn’t attractive to me in the good old days when childhood innocence and youthful aspirations made it so easy to decide to shun these banes in my life.

Prayerfulness, soberness and sexual purity. That is the path for me to take and I realize that life needn’t be all that confusing and dark and dreary, depressive, manic or weighed down if only I stay true to and stick focused, to the path that makes me who I am.

There are so many paths to take as we journey through life’s junctions.

I feel I’ve found mine and I hope the end of this post helps you realize that you’ve found yours, too.