Intervention

What to do?

Suppose you are walking down a road and you see a sign that says—WRONG ROAD. Some of us would keep walking but that could be a big mistake. Especially if it turns out to be the wrong road.

Some of us would be chagrined. Look at the time and effort we wasted walking down this road.  How do we explain this to others? Life is not fair. Whose fault is this?

And some of us would, at some point, default to gratitude and to hope. After all, we learned something. At least we are not going down a road we now believe to be the wrong road. And who knows, the next road we walk down could be the road we have been looking for all our life.

For some, a brush with the law or, even worse, a prison sentence, serves as a sign that says wrong road—an intervention. For others, maybe a broken relationship or a lost job or a financial reversal can be an intervention..

I’m not suggesting we put on a smiley face when we find we have taken the wrong road. I am suggesting we learn something from it and not lose heart. The next road we walk down very well could be the road we have been looking for all our life.

Some of the men in white I have had the privilege of mentoring have accepted that they were walking down the wrong road, have not lost heart, but rather are practicing the ways of life our faith calls us to live. Their lives are beacons filled with gratitude and hope.