Pathways

How sweet are the memories of childhood. As children, growing up in North Little Rock, my sister and I spent countless hours playing at Burns park. Burns park is a huge city park nestled between the plush rolling foothills of the Ouachita mountains, the noisey busy streets of the city and the Arkansas River. It is known for it's many nature trails which are cut into the dense pine and oak forest. It was a great respite from the streets of the city.

We would play for hours on end in one particular section of the park. This was a section that had a mixture of very old, very tall pine trees, and some stands that had recently been planted. The trails in this pine forest were padded with pine needles that had fallen from their hosts, making them particularly quiet to walk on. This made the games of hide and seek, cowboys and Indians, and whatever else our fertile imaginations could conger, even more enjoyable. Many of these pathways would cross themselves, always lending an element of surprise to our games.

Pathways are important if one wishes to traverse the forest. They allow us to avoid the underbrush, and provide a more direct route than could be achieved by walking around the trees. Yes, pathways are important, not only through the forest, but in life.

The pathways of our life are very interesting. They are like the paths we followed as children. I always found the most pleasure in walking a pathway for the first time. It was the adventure of not knowing what might lay around the next curve, or where the path would eventually end up that made it so much fun. Forty years later, as an adult, I find the same childlike sense of adventure when I explore a new trail. I find this to be true in life also. Each day the path we travel is new, uncharted territory. Along it's way we find many new and exciting things, we meet new people and develop new relationships. At times the path becomes difficult or our progress is impeded by obstacles, but it is the adventure of the journey that makes life worth living. Knowing that the eventual end of this pathway is a home which is greater than we can imagine, adds to the anticipation of each days journey.

I will be blogging about pathways for the next several blogs, and the different aspects of the 'pathway' concept in our lives. I hope you find this a pleasant journey.

Enjoy the java
Jim