I am the Way and the Truth and the Life

We discover we have been on the Way all along

Scripture

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’

(John 14:1-7, but once again, I’d read all of John 14. Especially that last line of the chapter: “Rise, let us be on our way.”)

Reflection

Halfway across the frozen lake, I wanted to quit and go back.

My eyes were streaming from the biting wind. My legs were aching from tromping through snow, deeper than I’d expected from shore. I reached the point where every step cries out: this was dumb, this was dumb, turn around, turn around.

Hiking on ice is no mystical walking on water. It can quickly make you tired, cranky, and frozen cold. But I had walked this way enough times to know this is exactly when you don’t quit. So through the whipping wind, I fixed my eyes on the church in the woods and kept stumbling into the snow.

I thought about every book I’ve written and how wanting to give up is part of the process. I thought about depression and the dark night of the soul. I thought about grief and suffering and every season that seemed impossible. I thought a thousand big lofty metaphors—and suddenly I was standing at the edge of the chapel.

Scrambling up the short steep hill, clawing at snowbanks to keep myself upright, jumping over a guardrail at the end like an eager child—and then rushing inside the chapel where everything was quiet and still and warm against the wind.

There she was, waiting in every way, expecting every one who arrived.