Long and winding road to faith

The long and winding road that leads to your door,

Will never disappear, I've seen that road before,

It always leads me here,leads me to your door.

The lyrics of the Beatles song, Long and Winding Road, describe the life-long spiritual journey that I have been on. I have not experienced the faith journey as a straight path from "go' to "Ah ha, I've made it". It's been more on again-off again, mountain tops and valleys, lost and found. I have no patience with those who try to describe the spiritual life as something that can be accomplished in four easy steps or as a program of self improvement. Spiritual growth and enlightenment is a journey with a purpose, a road that leads us to the door of the Divine. Donald Miller, writing in Searching for God Knows What proposes the following.

The truth is there are a million steps, and we don't even know what the steps are,

and worse, at any given moment we may not be willing or even able to take them;

and still worse, they are different for you and me and they are always changing.

I have come to believe the sooner we find this truth beautiful,

the sooner we will fall in love with the God who keeps shaking things up,

keeps changing the path, keeps rocking the boat to test our faith in Him,

teaching us not to rely on easy answers, bullet points, magic mantras, or genies in lamps,

but rather in His guidance, His existence, His mercy, and His love.