My life is dictated by Melbournes Public Transport system. More specifically, I am at the mercy of trams 1, 8, 59, 96 and bus route 508*. Mostly, I catch the 508. That bus is never on time, ever. If the bus were ever to arrive at its scheduled time, I wouldn't know just what to do with myself.
I think that if by some miracle the 508 made its way to my bus stop at its intended time, I’d have an adverse reaction. What that adverse reaction would be, I cannot quite determine. Perhaps my future self would step off the bus and due to the cataclysmic event that would occur, I’d wake up in a DeLorean with Marty McFly and Doc Emmett Brown on the way back to the future.
Despite the 508s inability to arrive on time, there is one thing it always does; it takes the same route every day. And it is BORING. Mind numbingly boring. Gouge my eyes out with my nail file boring. Slowly pull the hairs out of my arm and make myself a moustache for the next time I go incognito boring. Same streets, same stops, same traffic lights, same turns, same, same, same.
Yes, the 508 will get you where you need to go. But it’s the safe trip. I’m sick of the safe, of the same, of the known. I’d much rather take the scenic route – traversing through the city, investigating quaint little shops, soaking in the various cultures, conversing with eccentric characters along my travels. The scenic route takes a lot longer, yes, but imagine how much I’d miss out on if I stuck to the same route all the time. The relationships and life experiences that would pass me by.
The easy route, the expected route, the planned out, step-by-step route. Graduate from high school, go to uni, get the degree, work for a couple of years, climb the corporate ladder, meet and fall in love with Mr. six foot-/cleancut/kahki wearing/tennis playing/hybrid car driving/organic eating/guitar strumming/soulfully crooning/poetry reading/superman, have the fairytale wedding, go on a European honeymoon, work for a few more years, pop out three kids, raise the kids, volunteer with some charities, retire, marry off my kids, travel around Australia in a caravan, spoil the grandkids and pass away an old grey haired lady holding my husbands hand.
I’ve often felt that is the route the world is telling me to take. But lately I’ve realised I don’t want to. Its not that there is anything wrong with this path in life. If that is what you want to do, then do it. Just don’t do something because you feel you have to. Obligation is a dirty word. Well it makes me feel like I need a scalding hot shower with an industrial loofah and a 10 litre bottle of body wash. Of course there are situations in life where responsibility takes precedence and in these moments we need to choose the right attitude and have faith to come out of these seasons on top. But when responsibility results in oppression, perhaps we’re not on the right path…?
When we are living the life, living the route that God has planned for us – we are free. Our anointing is realised and released because we are outworking whom we were created to be. Moving in our strengths and living out our dreams and desires (which when we are seeking him, are Gods dreams and desires) will rarely be boring, every season has its moments, but when we are passionate people, living out the passions instilled within us, dull moments are far and few in between.
I want to be one of those passionate people, I wish I was one of them. You know, ‘them’, one of those ones who never works a day in their life, because they are doing something they adore. However, I’m afraid. I want to pursue what I feel God is telling me, to get off the bus and not to take the expected route. To take the scenic route, but responsibility and obligation creep back up on me. They’re words that make me stick to my seat, afraid to push the ‘next stop’ button, hold me back from jumping off the bus and tearing up my ticket, because I’m never going to take the safe option again.
This is where trust comes in. Knowing that even though I can’t see the scenic route – the plan that is unknown, exciting, mysterious, unfamiliar to the world route, is really what was planned all along and that I have the creator, the mapper of the plan guiding me along. Showing me where to stop, where to turn, where to accelerate and to not let the world tell me which way to go, but to allow him to guide me through the streets.
*when I started writing this, I was a frequenter of public transport. I now have a car, but take the same route to work everyday, because the voice in the GPS told me to.
