It’s all down to the choices we make

The Lakota tradition describes two roads or paths that every man must choose between: the Red Road and the Black Road. The Red Road is the road of honor, wisdom, power and vision. The Black Road is the road of pettiness, dishonor, selfishness and unconsciousness. The Red Road is described as narrow, winding and difficult to follow. You have to be alert and watch every step. The Black Road, on the other hand, is described as wide, easy-to-follow, and very popular. You can sleepwalk down the Black Road, and there is always plenty of company there. To walk the Red Road, you have to stay awake. The path is always changing and often challenging. When we walk the Red Road, we become stronger, wiser, and better with time. When we walk the Black Road, we just get old and stupid. The opening paragraph of ‘Backbone’ by David H Wagner

This image of the choice of two roads that we can walk through life is not unique in the Lakota tradition. It’s a common theme that can be found in all world religions and belief systems. It makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? We all know the truth of it in our own lives. In every situation, there is a choice. Not always a black a white choice between good and evil, right and wrong, sometimes it’s not as straightforward as that. But there is always a choice.

There’s a path that leads to love and light and life.

And then there’s the other path.

I love how David Wagner describes these two paths in ‘Backbone’. His book is a book for men, any man who wants to discover purpose, passion and power. I read it on behalf of my man(!) – take a look at my review here. He refers time and time again throughout the book to this choice about which road to walk on.

Jesus talks about two roads too. He doesn’t call them the Red Road and the Black Road. He refers to them as the broad road and the narrow road.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.  Matthew 7:13-14

The broad road leads to destruction. The narrow road leads to life.

That’s the choice right there.

He follows this up in Matthew 7 with more choices between true and false, good and bad…

We must choose who we listen to, who we take advice from. There are ‘true and false prophets’, those who speak the truth and words of life and those who deliberately mislead. We can work out what kind of person is speaking by the way they live their life. That’s another choice right there. A good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit.

The people listening to Jesus can tell the difference.

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.  Matthew 7:28-29

Not all of Jesus’ followers will prove to be true followers though. Not then, not now. Not everyone who calls themselves a Christian will live and love as a Christian should live and love. There’s a choice there too. It’s not our call to judge who is and who isn’t, but just to be aware…Jesus himself will know the difference.

It’s all about how we respond to the words of Jesus.

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.  Matthew 7:24-27

What are you choosing to build your life on? What’s your foundation?

We are our choices.

It’s the French philosopher J.P.Sartre who’s known for saying that, not Jesus, but it is the kind of thing Jesus would have said. It’s what he’s getting at in his teaching.

And to conclude our reflections for today, here’s one of those motivational quotes that we all love so much –

Your life is a result of your choices. If you don’t like your life, it’s time to make some better choices.