Getting lost in a new Indian city was a given when traveling as a child. Our maps were forty years old. Given the natural evolution of cities over hundreds of years, there was no logic that included the ideas of cars and visiting strangers.
It was in the middle of one stressful adventure that we found ourselves going the wrong way on a one-way street in the dark. As my brothers and I yelled in excitement, my mother screamed, “Its a one way street!”
“Shouldn’t be a problem. I am only going one way!”
As irreverent as the reply was, I found myself confronted with a reality. Life is always a one-way path. We can never return to where we were, because things will have changed. We cannot go backwards, time is by definition moving in a singular linear direction. Regardless of the circumstances, in good and bad, painful and party filled, even boring, our only choice is forward.
Many want to return to the golden years. Looking back, its rosy. We know we made it. We can see things working. While positive, there is an underlying premise we should discard.
The premise has been with us throughout our history. Writers noted that when God “raised him [Jesus] from the dead, he did it for good—no going back to that rot and decay for him.” (Acts 13.34) God was not going to undo what it had done. Yet more than that, God was determine to move forward. God wants more than yesterday for us. Divinity is looking for the better.
The question we face today rest within the question of “where”. In our desire to return to what is safe, are we merely repeating yesterday’s weaknesses and failures? Do we really want things to be better? If we do, then we have a critical decision in the moment at hand. Will we strive to make the world a better place? Can we put aside the safety of knowing that we have made it and walk into the unknown? Are we reaching for the more?
