Roundabouts

I watched "Enlighten Up!" today; it's a documentary about a young man who is a yoga newbie and a woman documentary maker who is not a yoga newbie - it is a story about seeking. I don't remember which guru the young man was talking with, but he asked about how does one obtain happiness. The reply was, Be yourself. Be your true self. Try to get rid of what you are not, get rid of the things that unnecessarily wearing on yourself. Happiness is not outside. Happiness within ourselves. And  later the guru said to the young man, you will have to question yourself; where is, where can we get that happiness.

Later in the morning I opened up my book, and Chapter 7 begins with "...the Hebrew phrase translated "straight paths" actually says something more complex and more interesting then the translation would convey. It literally means "roundabout ways that end up in the right direction."

And I've been thinking lately about the phrase "fake it until you make it" and practice praying, pray the confusion, the hurt, the fear, the worries, the thankfulness, the love, pray even when you doubt, maybe especially when in doubt.

I don't know if I'll ever become the priest I hope to be; I don't know what my future will bring; I know what my hopes are for my children, my wife, myself, my world. I don't know the end results of these hopes, but I do know that if I don't live into them then the possibilities for amazing will pass me by.

Many of the guru's spoke of practice and time, the northern Indian guru's spoke of loving God, you don't need to become a pretzel to find what you seek, but you need to love in order to find.

The young man needed tangible proof, tangible results in order to believe in transformation through yoga, he needed this perhaps faster then yoga could provide, the woman needed the young man to believe that yoga would lead to enlightenment, looking vicariously through the lens of another to find her own seeking heart.

I often feel guilty for wanting God to provide tangible proof, for needing this...then I get torn by Jesus' words to ask and you shall receive. It is my hope that my "roundabout ways" end me up in the right direction.