The Peak of Inspiration

Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life…  Matthew 7:14

I love the backroads.  I love how the lead to the quiet places.  I love how, the farther you drive on them, the brighter the stars shine.  I love how you can take your time, nobody in front of you to keep up with, and nobody behind to pressure you forward.  I like how you can stop, backup, turn around even, and nobody minds.  I love how you can roll down the window, surf the air with your hand, and sing to an audience of birds and bullfrogs.  I really like how, on the backroads, your eyes and thoughts are drawn to what is around you, not who.  It’s likely that the folks you meet on the backroads are some that you know, and you can stop if you wish and visit a little.  Or a lot.  Should someone come up behind you, they usually don’t mind waiting for you to finish.  I like the absence of speed limit signs.  They aren’t there because any speed is safe.  They are missing because the folks on the backroads aren’t there to go fast.  And it’s not because the backroads travelers don’t have a destination.  They usually do.  Just that they don’t have a deadline.

It surprises me that, given all the beauty and peace found on the backroads, we spend more of our time on the highways and the interstates.  For some reason we find it important to speed along, with a thousand other self-absorbed individuals.  We chose the hot, noisy, crowded, carbon-monoxide wrapped environment as the best way to reach our destination.  We merge on, speed up, and try to find our place amongst the multitude.  Nobody caring where we are going.  Nobody concerned about our day.  We set the cruise, ignore what is around us, and focus instead on the ones in front of us, the ones behind, and the ones coming up alongside.  We jostle and trade places on these roads.  Everyone wishing to be ahead of who they are behind.  Some of the inconsiderate holding up the crowd and causing untold inconvenience.  We try to predict what other drivers will do.  Wonder what possesses them to put their lives and the lives of others at great risk to advance forward one slot in the lineup. 

At it doesn’t get any better when you get to where the wide roads take you.  Those expansive prisons of congestion.  The breeding grounds of frustration and impatience.  Where you constantly wish you were somewhere else, whether it is on the exit you just missed or in the next lane over or at the Cabela’s instead of the Bath and Body Works.  When we enter the city, we start to notice the people around us.  All of whom we don’t know and who don’t know us.  We see what they drive and half the time we wish we had what they do.  The other half of the time we are glad we don’t.  We see their habits, clothing, and lifestyles.  Sometimes we stare, other times we try not to.  When it gets dark, we can’t see the stars.  Not because they aren’t shining, but because there are other lights in the way.  Flashing lights, neon lights, LED lights, every kind of light that man can make.    

And even though it’s a little difficult to admit, all of this, the speed of life, the lights and noises and smells of the city, is addictive.  Even to a farm-raised Kansas boy like me.  

For some reason our hearts are drawn to the crowd.  We are attracted to the party.  We want to be there.  We steer away from the quiet lifestyle, leave the solitude of the simple way, and enter the pressure filled environment of the wider road.  We stop watching the things around us and start noticing the people.  Especially the ones just ahead of us.  The ones filling our windshields.  We compare ourselves to them.  We try to keep up, or maybe pass, our closest competitor.  We keep our eyes on the rearview, watching the ones we are ahead of.  We worry about what others think.  We succumb to the pressure from those around us.  We become part of the crowd.  Being pushed and pulled by the fashions and styles that drive them.  We wish for the next thing.  We focus on getting there.  And when we arrive, we spend more than we should on things that won’t help us.  Then back to the search for the next place.  The next purchase and the next experience.  It’s a cycle that will make a rich man poor and exhaust the healthiest among us. 

And all the while the backroads are waiting for us.  They are quiet.  They are empty.  They are ready to show us what our hearts need. 

These roads aren’t popular.  The Bible promises us they never will be.  It’s why the stay the way they are.  But the Bible also promises they lead in the right direction.  Away from the mob.  Toward life. 

So slow down.  Just… slow down.  Find a path that you can do that on.  Slow enough that you don’t have to watch what others are doing just so you can survive.  Slow enough to talk if we meet each other.  Slow enough to be inspired by the things you see out your open window.  Spend time instead of money.  Put down the phone and pick up a frisbee.  Look at the stars above you, not at the crowd around you.  Learn to love the ordinary, be it clothes, houses, or people.  Stop trying to keep up and stay ahead. 

Find the backroads.  Find the peace and quiet that is waiting for you.  Find the pure air and the clear skies of the narrow roads.  Venture into the stillness and peace that is found in abundance there.

And in finding these, you will find life.  And that’s a promise.