I like to read when I fly, but on a recent business trip to California, I finished my book on the way over, so I spent the rest of the trip over, and all of the trip back, looking out of the window. Have you ever done that? You can see some interesting sights from a perspective that's undetectable when you're on ground level. I saw what appeared to be farm land, yet the way the crops were planted formed perfect circles...hundreds of them. I saw what looked like highways that would just end abruptly. What was that all about? I could see lines on the ground that went on for miles and miles, and I assumed that it must have been either clearings for power lines or pipelines. I actually think I had more questions about what I saw than I did answers. Then I began to daydream, wishing I had Lake, my five year old grandson, with me. I know his inquiring mind would've been hard at work. "What is that shiny thing over there, Poppa?" "That looks like a school to me." "Why is it so shiny?" "It must have a tin roof." "What is that big blue thing down there that's shaped like a dinosaur?" "That's a lake." "Why is it shaped like a dinosaur?" "I don't think it's shaped like that on purpose. If you were down there beside it, you wouldn't know it's shaped like a dinosaur." "What is that really crooked thing down there?" "That's a river." "Why is it so crooked?" Why IS it so crooked? That question jarred me back into reality.
It's not that I didn't know the answer. I knew the answer...it was the answer that started my mind whirling. I'm sure that I could've found a way to explain to a five year old that rivers are crooked because water follows the path of least resistance. It's one of the characteristics of water. If you put water in a pan, and tilt the pan slightly, all the water runs to the lower side of the pan. Tilt the pan the other way and the water changes sides. Water is not stable.
Well, it just so happened that the next morning after my flight back from California, I was at church, sitting in our LifeFocus class, where we were discussing "Character," and my friend, Matt Gordon, quoted a statement he'd heard his grandfather say many times, "Following the path of least resistance makes men and rivers crooked." Was is a coincidence that I had given that subject so much thought one day, and I heard that quote the next? Maybe. Maybe not. I know I've thought a lot about it since then. I don't want to be like water. I'm reminded of a scene from an "Andy Griffith Show" where Barney was sitting in a trial. When he heard the prosecution, he was totally persuaded of the defendant's guilt. Then, when he heard the defense, he was totally persuaded of his innocence. Basically, he went along with whoever spoke last. Am I that easily influenced? I don't think so. I sure hope I'm not.
The Bible speaks of people like that. James 1:8 says "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." I Googled the question, "What is a double minded man?" The answer is simply, "A man who cannot make a decision and stick with it." That sounds like water...it just goes whichever way the pan is tilted.
In reality, Lake was not with me that day on that flight, so we didn't actually have that conversation. I hope that someday I can explain to him how "following the path of least resistance makes men and rivers crooked," and how a stable man will follow the straight path, even when it's the most difficult. Better yet, I'll just show him.
Preston
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This is very powerful. Reading your blogs, I can never know where you are going with your words. However, at the end, everything clicks and makes sense. This also reminded me of one of my favorite poems by Robert Frost. It called "The Road Not Taken."
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