Mazes

   Yes, I have decided to join the blogging world, too. The title's kind of lame, but that may change. I think there's always been a small part of me that wished to do something like this, but a large part of my decision actually comes from the inspiration of a great friend. My friend Zac Baker, whom most of you will probably know, recently began blogging as well, and I've really enjoyed reading his perspective on things. He has some pretty awesome posts so far, so you should check them out here. My posts will be similar in nature to his; meaning they will simply be the random thoughts that come to mind. I can't say I'll be very consistent on posting, or even be consistent on consistency, probably having sporadic periods of blogging overload interrupted by vast droughts of nothingness. Also, I'd like to apologize in advance for any tangents that may be gone off on. I'm planning on not really planning. I'm just going to let my mind wander and let that flow down to my fingers. So, if it gets laboriously long and tangential, I apologize. If you can stick with it through that, I commend you.

   Now, the reason I decided to start this on this particular day, rather than any other, is that I came across a web comic my friends and I peruse on occasion. I'd seen this specific "strip" a few times before, but only today had it had the effect that it did. This will probably make a lot more sense if I start off by showing it to you, so here you go; Clicky-Clicky. When I saw this today, at first I just thought to myself what I thought every other time, "Ahhh, he's trying to say that we go through life from the moment we're born to the day we die and it's up to us to make the decisions that define what that looks like. We can make our lives as simple as we want - a straight shot from birth to death without much excitement on the way - or we can take twists and turns and create a somewhat chaotic, yet oddly beautiful, design of our lives." But then I started to realize something. It's not completely up to us to "fill in our maze" as Dante puts it, but rather it is a collective work, a collaboration, of our own choices, as well as those of the many people who come into our lives. Even if you wanted to have that simple, straight shot to the end kind of life, it's not really up to you. Every person we interact with has a profound impact on our lives. And sometimes when we're making a portion of our maze it just comes to a dead end. We feel like there's nothing left to do. We feel trapped. But then other people come along and help you open a new door, if you will. You can get out of that long empty corridor to nothingness and keep moving. And sometimes, when the best kinds of people come into your life, they open up a path into their own maze. And your mazes join together, and they truly become a part of your life and you a part of theirs.

   But one of the best parts about it is that God is always watching over the process. He's going to make sure that our mazes don't end up completely in dead ends. He'll always provide a way through to keep moving on. He guides our choices, and those of our friends, family, coworkers, figures of authority, and all others with whom we interact, so that our lives can bring glory to Him. I guess it just changes the way I look at everyday situations.

  Well, I feel like I could continually write on this topic, but alas the time has come for me to wrap this up. It's getting long and I have a mother calling me to do housework. So, farewell for now. And please, let the comments, good and bad, pour in like a monsoon.