Yesterday…
…I had lunch with Andy. Last weekend he had a good time with his daughter and granddaughter. He’s had many different jobs, seen the world, achieved a lot. Andy’s never been married, never enjoyed a settled stable relationship. Now he lives alone.
As he’s getting older, he lives with regrets. Andy wishes his life had taken a different path.
…I met Derek outside the pet shop. As a young man he had a good job in London. He was ambitious, hard-working, earning good money. He met Sue. They had a family. Derek gave up his work and became a ‘house husband’ whilst Sue continued working.
Eventually Derek returned to less skilled, less well-paid work. Derek wondered… what if his life taken a different path.
…I had a drink with Charlie. He has a wife, family and a good job. He’s fit, healthy and active. Life’s good. Next week he has an interview for another job which would be further promotion. He’s thinking about retirement.
Charlie’s life may take a different path; he’s trying to plan for it.
…Richard has made these copper daffodils for Holocaust Memorial Day, January 29th. We shall remember the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust under Nazi Persecution, and all killed in the genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur…
…People whose life involuntarily took a different path of suffering and murder.
This morning I read of eighty-year-old Moses. Unexpectedly he sees a bush that’s on fire. He takes a closer look. A voice starts speaking to him. It’s God.
His life’s path had already changed direction several times – prince, murderer, shepherd, family man. Like Andy and Derek, he could look back and wonder ‘what if?’; like Charlie he could have been planning for retirement.
Instead, his God calls him to action, helping and leading suffering people – and won’t take ‘no’ for an answer…
I’m left musing… my retirement pathway is pretty comfortable… what if my God calls me to take a different path?
malcolmsmusings.org 