In the darkest recesses of the school library at G. P. Babb Middle School in Forest Park, GA rests a book that I owe my life to. With a tattered cover and torn pages, this book is certainly nothing to look at. I have no idea why I picked this book up nearly 15 years ago. Maybe it was a desire to find something different to read or maybe it was merely a whim, but regardless of why I picked it up, I am thankful that I did.
While I am unable to recall the name of the book, I can tell you with certainty what I found written in its worn pages. Three fourths of the way through the book, there was written a poem that would one day forever alter my life.
There, written on its pages was the following poem.
The Way
By: Edwin Muir
Friend, I have lost the way.
The way leads on.
Is there another way?
The way is one.
I must retrace the track.
It’s lost and gone.
Back, I must travel back!
None goes there, none.
Then I’ll make here my place,
(The road leads on),
Stand still and set my face,
(The road leaps on),
Stay here, for ever stay.
None stays here, none.
I cannot find the way.
The way leads on.
Oh places I have passed!
That journey’s done.
And what will come at last?
The road leads on.
I cannot tell you all the ways that this poem spoke to me, but I can tell you with clarity and purpose that whatever place you find yourself in, no matter how difficult life or ministry may seem at times, The road leads on.
When you seem lost and off track, the road leads on.
When you can’t seem to figure out what you’re looking for in life, the road leads on.
When you feel like God has left and abandoned you, the road leads on.
When you feel like you have made so many mistakes that you can’t recover from, the road leads on.
When you feel like your world is crashing down all around you, the road leads on.
Let me say it this way, there is hope for you. When your world seems hopeless, the road leads on and there is hope for you.
Keep fighting, keep believing, keep holding on to hope, because the road leads on.
There is hope if you stick it out.
You may find yourself in a place like I was when this poem was brought back to my recollection. You may find yourself struggling and wondering if God even knows your name, but the road leads on. He has not abandoned you or ditched you because of your past and your mistakes, the road He has for your life leads on. He has not forgotten about you when He seems silent, the road He has for your life leads on.
It leads on.
It leaps on.
He has a purpose for your life. And if for some reasons you have stepped off of that path towards that purpose, you can get back on it, because the road continues on.
No matter what you face or have faced in your life, just remember….
The Road Leads On…