Find a Way or Make One

My inspiration this week comes a quote attributed to Hannibal: "Aut viam inveniam aut faciam." or "I will find a way or make one."

Found this quote on a co-worker's wall.

It is especially germane in this season of Advent when we hear that classic hymn- "Make Straight the Way".

I remember vividly the time when I felt that I was called to be a priest. One passage from the Bible came to me as though it were a sign. That passage was "Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; The rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley."

I clearly saw the crooked roads being made straight- the mountains being leveled- and a clear road ahead. My mistake was in thinking that God was doing the clearing. If you read this passage in context, God is asking us to make a road. God is asking us to find our voice and to cry out.

It took years to realize that God had no intention for me to become a priest. God's plan was for me to find my voice and the cry out. There are many things that I need to say, many things that I need to do in this world. There is no clear path. But no matter what lies in the way- there is always a way to make the path straight. But the most important thing is to make sure that the path that you are creating is the path that God meant for you from the moment of your creation.

Lord help us all to find the way that you have intended for us- help us to make the path straight!

Finding that one path that God intended for us from the very beginning is the first step on the way to building the Discipline of Self-Esteem.