True Guidance

B. E. LANGDON

The absolute futility of relying upon so-called human intelligence and wisdom to direct our footsteps, and the necessity of pausing and waiting on God when in doubt what path to pursue, was brought home to me very clearly one day some months ago.

Together with a friend, I went up on a mountain to pick berries. I knew nothing about the place, but my companion knew the vicinity well. When, therefore, we were ready to come home, she led the way, while I followed, closely at first; but finally I lingered to get a few more berries, only to find, upon looking up, that she had disappeared from view. I had no idea which way she had gone or which way one ought to go to get down the mountain, but fear and dismay urged me to do something, and seeing what looked like an opening in the thicket which surrounded me. I set out in this direction, thinking it might be the proper path. Before I had gone far, however, I found that the opening was deceptive, for it only led into a growth of brambles and underbrush so dense that it was impossible for me to go any farther.

Necessity having compelled a pause, I began to realize that I did not have to try to find my way home myself with only blind belief for a guide, for my friend, with her thorough knowledge of the place, would come back for me when she saw I was not following her. Even while I was thinking thus, I heard her calling, and soon she joined me. Soon we were started safely on the homeward path, which, by the way, led in a direction directly opposite to the one in which mere conjecture had led me to start.

How well this incident illustrates some of our experiences in our spiritual journey. God is ever with us, ready to guide each step of the way. As the children of Israel were guided in the best possible paths through a long and troublesome journey, so the obedient ones of today are guided. But when we fail to follow the divine guidance closely, how different is the story! The true path of life is lost, and all about us we see only the tangled thickets of error, while there seems to be no path out of them. We forget that when we "wait patiently on God and seek Truth righteously, He directs our path" (Science and Health, p. 254). Instead of this, fear, self-will, pride, or some other human belief, argues that if we only set out in some certain direction, where the thicket of error seems less dense, we shall come out all right. It would be foolish, useless, and even wrong, to pause and wait for guidance when we have such a long and difficult journey ahead and many difficulties to overcome. So we start in the way that human belief tells us is right, and at first perhaps we may seem to be following the right course; but after a time things begin to go wrong. We do not feel quite so sure of the way. Moreover, error's thorns tear the flesh, and its undergrowth trips our feet, until we find it impossible to follow the chosen path after all. Then at last necessity compels us to cease following the guidance of human belief, and we begin to open up our consciousness to Truth. We begin to know that God will find every honest seeker and give him the guidance of true intelligence.

And how quickly and surely divine Love does find us ! When we listen for our Father's voice and follow His bidding, soon we are once more on the homeward path, the path of spiritual understanding. Here are no thorns, no tangled thickets of error to hurt us and check our progress. Here each step is marked out by divine Truth and Love, and during the whole journey we are supported and strengthened. The right path may lie entirely opposite to that which mortal sense chose as the right one ; but when we are following God's leading we need not be anxious, even though we must pass through the deserts and the wildernesses of human belief, for Love will make springs of water to break forth in the desert and the wilderness shall blossom as the rose.

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