When I think of a long and winding road, the first things that come to mind are either the title of a book or the lyrics of a song. Before claiming authorship of these thought provoking words, I did a quick Internet search. It turns out that these exact words are the name of a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1970 album Let it Be. I doubt that these lyrics were stuck in my head when I came up with this article’s theme, but I must admit that I have heard the song many times throughout my life. Although, I am sure nothing like the number of times that Scott has heard a Billy Joel song or the record Scott has set with the number of times he has attended one of Billy’s concerts.
When thinking of a long and winding road, it reminds me of how we can live our lives. We can take our own path, which in some cases, may cause us to weave in and out of situations that we should never have placed ourselves in. If given enough time, hopefully we will eventually realize that the path we are on doesn’t lead us where we want or need to go. We may blame it on our upbringing, the daily peer pressure that we face, or maybe even the need for something that we feel is lacking in our lives. Whatever the case, the winding that we may be doing seems to come down to doing our own will rather than God’s will.
Hebrews 13:20-21 (NKJV)
20 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
I know that it may be harder for some and not others to stay on the straight and narrow path, and the Lord knows that I have done my share of weaving and winding in my life, especially in my youth. Thankfully I lived through my youth, and as I have aged, have grown more faithful and hopefully have become more mature now that I am older and wiser. I know, my self assessment can be debated.
Thankfully when we stray from the path we can be forgiven, but that means we must humble ourselves to the point of asking for forgiveness. We don’t need to be reminded of this, but we hope that we are given enough time to correct our mistakes and make things right with God. Not exactly a pleasant thought, but many of us know of those who stayed on the long and winding road and never took the time nor made the decision to remain on the straight and narrow path. We also know those whose winding road ended in their death.
1 John 1:5-10 (NKJV)
5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
In a 1994 interview, Paul McCartney (the song’s author), said that βIt’s rather a sad song.β If we live our lives on a long and winding road rather than on a straight and narrow path, I can see where our song (life) will have a sad ending.