Somewhere Down the Road

The day is bitterly cold and windy, and armed with my ipod, I step into the deep winter morning that cuts like a knife, though the sunlight is shining brightly...

I reflect on the fact that at 55, I have reached an age where my friends have started to die...

I do not visit the river today, nor tread on its towpath, instead I navigate the walking path that ambles through different sections of my neighborhood, and which I have walked for nearly two decades of my life...

I am deeply moved by the process of a friend who is not long for this world. She is truly teaching me how to live on so many levels...

I wrestle with profound philosophical and theological questions during my brisk walk in the biting wind, recalling the night of "Faith and Worship," an ecumenical prayer service I attended last evening at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, where I had chaired the Theology Department for twelve years. I was moved by all of the panelists and their sharing, and most especially by the Imam who is the Muslim Chaplain at Georgetown University, which borders the school I once worked at. The Imam began by praying the Shema in Hebrew, followed by prayers in Arabic and English, noting how no one can be a good Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, or Buddhist, if he or she does not embrace all of his brothers and sisters in other traditions, as part of him or herself...

There is a fundamental unity that is disclosed in diversity. We are reminded of this in life and in death most especially, for none of us escape its embrace. We come face to face with the fact that we are all one at our essence, when we walk down the road of our life...

My heart is full, and breaking open, so many feelings and emotions hold me captive, as I listen to the newest record by Amy Grant, that I downloaded this morning, appropriately titled, "Somewhere Down the Road..."

I listen to the songs - "Better than a Hallelujah," "Every Road," "Somewhere Down the Road," "Overnight" - and many others, all disclosing needed messages at a time I find myself at a crossroads, personally, professionally, and in many other ways, not sure of what direction to take, or what the next step will be - but somehow knowing, that somewhere down the road, I may have clearer insights...

So much becomes clearer in hindsight. I walk and I ask why this, and why that, and the insight gently comes, that it is useless to question, and over-analyze things and situations, because we will never know or see the big picture - at least not here...And somehow, that gentle insight comes wrapped in greater peace...

So I walk, I reflect, I listen to lyrics, and do the only thing I can in the face of so many questions, and that is simply to pray and then surrender to the grace of God...

"So much pain and no good reason why
You've cried until the tears run dry
And nothing here can make you understand
The one thing that you held so dear
Is slipping from your hands
And you say

Why, why, why
does it go this way
Why, why, why
And all I can say is

Somewhere down the road
There'll be answer to the questions
Somewhere down the road
though we cannot see it now
Somewhere down the road
You will find might arms reaching for you
And they will hold the answers
At the end of the road."
~ "Somewhere Down the Road

"Every road that's traveled teaches something new
And every road that's narrow pushes us to choose
And I'd be lying if I said,
I had not tried to leave a time or two
But every road that leads me,
Leads me back to you.

Here we stand in the middle of what we've come to know
It's a dance, it's a balance, holding on and letting go
But there is nothing that we can't resolve
When love's at stake,
When love's involved..."
~ "Every Road"

"If it all just happened overnight,
You would never learn to believe
In what you cannot see...

Take it a day, a day at a time.
One foot in front of the other
Take a day, a day at a time,
No need to hurry...
It won't happen overnight..."
~ "Overnight"