guiding thoughts

image found here.

"you have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. what you'll discover will be wonderful. what you'll discover is yourself." [a. alda]

at mass last weekend, the priest started his by homily by simply saying, "drive less. take the bus more." what i thought was going to be a bizarre lecture on going green turned into a wonderful metaphor for life's journey. 

he explained that eventually we will all arrive at our destination - the moment in life when the world appears in beautiful shades of vibrant color, when we couldn't possibly hope for more, when we realize our dreams have come true. we will all get there. 
but, that's not what counts. what matters is how we get there - the road in between that shapes us and prepares us for that moment. 

the priest went on to explain that when we ride the bus, we can enjoy our surroundings. we let time pass. we allow fate to play out. think about it - when we take a bus or train, all we have to do is sit. we can choose to ponder. or sleep. or read. or look out the window. or spark a conversation with the person to their right. but whatever we do, we stop. we are allowed to pause life's chaos and just be. 
conversely, when we drive we're always thinking about the next stop. how fast we're going. how much faster we can go to get there. we hurry. we need more gas. we honk at the passerby cutting us off. we are distracted. we are trying. trying to get to the destination instead of simply being. 
and while father eric more accurately articulated his metaphor than i ever could, i hope we get the point. this week may we enjoy the journey. look forward to the destination, but take in the surroundings along the way. may we drive less. and take the bus more.