God loves us so much that, not only did he make us a creation unto ourselves, but in doing so, he gifted us with a particular way to return that love that is fit for no other person. In simply being our true selves, doing nothing more than becoming the unique person that God created us to be, we give glory to God and follow our own particular path of holiness. That’s it! We are not to imitate the lives of the saints or do what others define for us; our path to holiness is not made by scrupulously following the path of a holy person who has gone before us. What is asked of me may not be asked of you. What you are capable of may not be what I am capable of. Each and every one of us has been created differently, for God’s own glory, and we each have our own path to follow.
—from the book Let Go: Seven Stumbling Blocks to Christian Discipleship
by Casey Cole, OFM
2 thoughts on “We Each Have Our Own Path”
We are all born with certain limitations and it is those very same limitations that also determine our respective destinies. Nevertheless, along our path in life, there will be a fork in the road sooner or later in which one must make a decision. How many forks in the road are presented to every person, I don’t know.
All I know is that I had a decision to make when I was nine years old. Blessed Fr. Paschal Kelly told my dad I would be better off staying with my uncle in Minneapolis rather than going back to Japan with my dad. I chose to stay with my dad. Did I make the mistake of my life? I don’t know exactly. I’ll find out, I guess, when all is said and done in this life of mine. What do I have to show for my current path? A book I got self-published into English about my mom’s granddad. Perhaps that was my life’s mission.
But I can’t help wondering how my life would have been different had I stayed with my uncle. But if I had stayed with my uncle, I would then be wondering how my life would have been different had I stayed with my parents. I love my parents, but yet bad things happen to good people like me and now life goes on. The thing I wonder most about, though, is what would I have done for a living had I stayed in the U.S. Perhaps God can share that with me after I die. I’m curious. Would my interests have been the same? What kind of passions would I have had? How does one’s environment affect who one is? Would I have lived to my fullest potential? Surely my values would have been the same, I would presume, since I always took my faith seriously no matter what. Would I really have been happier than I am now? Would I have loved more? Was Blessed Fr. Kelly right about what was in my best self-interest? My current life’s path isn’t all that bad, at least from here on out, I suspect, but how much better could it have been? What am I missing out on? Maybe what I don’t know won’t hurt me. Why did Blessed Fr. Kelly say I was “quite a guy”? I suspect that his ultimate compliment, oh well.
Ponder but don’t look back. Make a choice and stick with it. The Holy Spirit lives within you. What more could you want.
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