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.
