On Tor

Life is a journey. Some think that whichever path you choose is right for you. Others will say, ‘Not all roads lead to God.’

Of course, they’re right. Suppose lots of people all want to climb a mountain. From any given spot at the foot of the mountain, most paths will lead away from it, rather than towards the summit.

But for all that, there is no one set of instructions that is helpful for everyone. A list of directions that begins, ‘Walk half a mile west along the road, take the footpath on your left leading south, and continue south-west to the summit,’ isn’t going to help you if you’re standing to the south of the mountain to start with. You need to start by understanding where you are, in order to know which direction you want to move in.

Then, you need to consider your level of fitness. Are you a good enough climber to take the steep path going straight up, or do you need to take the longer, zig-zagging route? It may look as though it’s going in the opposite direction of where you think you should be going…

…but from further up, you’ll understand that it had to be this way.

Until you get there, though, it’s easy to feel as though the journey is too hard…

…the goal is too far off, everyone else is more advanced than you, and everything is too big for you to handle.

Even if you only wander a little way, it’s easy to get lost.

Sometimes, what you need isn’t so much more guide-books as an actual guide to come with you on the journey. A real guide can look at where you are, consider your ability to climb, and say, ‘Shall we try this way?’