Come As Far As You Can

A man cried out from his heart:

“Oh, Lord, if you hear me, I feel so lost and do not know what I am to do about it. Can you help me to be free from the chains of worry, doubt, and confusion?”

The answer came to the man's heart, “It is simple. Love everybody on Earth which I have provisioned for all people to live together in peace.”

The man sadly responded, “I cannot. For I do not even know how.”

And the answer came to his heart, “Then come as far in the direction of pure love as you can, my lost rolling stone. I will come the rest of the way.”

And the man rejoiced to hear these words and fell silent, at peace at last. He felt with certainty he was being led, and feeling a certain unfamiliar assurance that, for him, it is done, stepped forward, one tiny baby step. At first, he thought, “Lord, you have forsaken me, I am a fool!” Suddenly, he saw ahead of him a clearing where a small boy who seemed to be lost stood crying. And he was ashamed for a moment but almost immediately he knew what to do and it was as if he had always known what to do, every step of the way on this path of his new life.

Then he made a costly decision. Someone suggested in his ear that he tattoo a message on his forehead to remind him of the truth. So he did. On his face, above his eyes, he had written:

“Come as far as you can

I will come the rest of the way”

The Lord of My Understanding

Most of the time, he could not see the message so he fell into his old pattern. Too often was he caught up in doubt again and then the misery would grab hold of him. He came to notice, however, that many others he knew were getting happier and happier while he was growing sadder and sadder. How can it be so? He wondered. This is unfair. I was given the answer and knew it and all these other people I meet never even prayed and yet it seems they are receiving my happiness. Woe is me.

Then one day while shaving he glanced up and saw the message he carried on his forehead that had become so familiar to him that he had not really noticed it for a long time and knew that his friends were reading the message on his own head while he had been slowly growing blind to it. He laughed at himself. He shouted, “The very things that enable me to see have caused me to go blind!”

And, oddly, he knew that he would never again be far away from the choice to resume this new path anytime he stepped away from it, for, from now on, the pain of worry, doubt, and confusion would be his guides and so what were enemies are now good friends and allies. This makes life at least doubly wonderful, the man thought, and he wanted to tell about it.