The Road Goes Ever On and On

I love the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. From the time I was 10 yrs old and finally got permission to read my aunt’s copy of The Hobbit, I have been enamored with Middle Earth. There are a lot of great moral lessons within those works. One of my favorite parts of the stories is the walking song that Bilbo Baggins writes:

Roads go ever on and on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shown,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.
Roads go ever on and on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and lilies they long have known.
The road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the road has gone,
and I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then?  I cannot say.
The road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.

The Bible talks a lot about roads and paths and steps and walking. Life is compared to a journey, and our daily living to a walk. We are told that God will level the rough path. He will make straight the crooked path. He will reveal His paths to us: the path of righteousness and the path of wisdom. We are to walk uprightly before Him. We are to walk in all His ways. We are to walk by the Spirit and to walk in the light. We are to walk “circumspectly”, meaning to step carefully as if walking in a field of thorns. We are to walk in truth.

It seems it matters to God not only what we do on our journey, which path we take, but also where we intend to end up. Are we walking along the narrow path that leads to salvation or are we walking on the broad way that leads to destruction? Jesus made it clear that the narrow path of God is hard to find because only few will walk on it. The Bible tells us that the Word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. God doesn’t hide his paths. He doesn’t leave us guessing in a world of roads with no road signs. God directs our steps if we follow Him. God established the path Himself. He made sure we could find it if we looked for it. He gave us guidance and direction, not only on how the road would look and what we would find there, but also on how we are to go about walking it and making sure we don’t leave the path.

When I read this walking song of Bilbo Baggins, I ask myself, “Am I pursuing the road before me with eager feet?” Am I running the race that God set out for me in a worthy manner? Am I not only on the right road, but am I walking that road the way I should be? Am I helping others find the narrow way? Am I making sure I turn neither to the right or the left, but stay straight on the path with my eyes fixed on God? Am I reaching out a hand to my brothers and sisters when they stumble? Am I willing to take a hand extended to me when I stumble?

These are necessary questions. We can’t let fear of rejection keep us from urging people to get on the narrow path that leads to salvation. We can’t let the fear of being labeled judgmental keep us from offering a word of correction in love to a brother or sister that we see is stumbling into sin. Of course, the “in love” part is the key to that. People accept more easily a criticism offered out of love and in a loving manner than they do a harsh word. And we must not let our own pride get in the way when a brother or a sister offer a word of correction to us. We have to be willing to teach, but we also have to be teachable ourselves. In a lot of ways, this is a group journey. We can’t be so self focused on our own salvation that we miss the needs of our fellow travelers. Something tells me if we make it to the throne of God on our own, with no fellow travelers with us, we won’t have much of a reward waiting there.

I have no way of knowing where this path will lead me. I don’t know if it will be a relatively easy way with just a few bumps or detours. I don’t know if this path will ultimately lead to a cross. I only know that whatever the path brings, I must be willing to walk it with God by my side. The road is less lonely with God. Whatever path we choose in life, we will walk it to the “lighted inn”. If we are on the right path, walking with God, we will find there our evening-rest and sleep. If we are on the wrong path, walking without God, we will find there the door shut and barred against us. I do not want to find a locked door at the end of my road, so I will walk circumspectly–as if I were walking through a field of thorns–carefully, making sure I can see God next to me and ahead of me so I don’t stray from that narrow way.