the Road Less Traveled

The Road Less Traveled

I suspect you have read The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck, M.D. He delves into the human psyche, which is often selfish and hides its own brokenness. It is only in our willingness to reveal or peal off layers of our pain like an onion that we can offer hospitality to another person Pastor/Author Henry Nouwen wrote in Wounded Healer. In our woundedness we can become a source of life for others. “Love is the will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth... Love is as love does. Love is an act of will -- namely, both an intention and an action. Will also implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose to love” (The Road Less Traveled, Peck). It is in extending our lives into others that we find ourselves and understand the love of God. For “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” (John 3:16-17). It is God’s role to save, it is ours to love and care for those who are not.

Life is full of suffering. That is not a negative view of life, it just is. So God sent His light into the world and through Him we also are lights in the darkness. This light requires sharing to be fully experienced. In this, the life that is worth living is revealed. It takes us beyond the suffering and pain to the hope that is within us. Sharing hope allows us to enter into the “unknown and fearful territory” (Nouwen) where healing can occur.

As fellow sojourners, we are here to serve one another through the grace and mercy of God’s love given to us. This grace is a gift of God lest anyone should boast. It is to be given freely without finding fault, as God would do. If you don’t have this love, ask for it. God gives is freely. But don’t doubt, ask courageously in hope and joy, knowing that you will receive. What you have received, freely give.