When Your Compass Gets Lost

Irony is the bittersweet seasoning of life.

There dawned a point in time of life when I realized that I was missing something. This revelation of a lack of revelation was both enlightening and near frightening. I was enlightened because I was aware that there was an essence in life that I was missing. I was disturbed in this knowing because I didn't know what I didn't know.

Ironic, isn't it? I'd venture to think that most people have found themselves at a similar impasse in life. The choice that one makes at this juncture is truly a character defining decision. There's many options when presented with an apparent dead-end. I chose to step off the pass and wonder around in the wilderness of the land. I figured if I wondered long enough I might just find what I felt I was missing.

I lost my way... on purpose.

Ironic again, no?

Little did I know the ramifications this choice would have on my stature, my cognition, and, most importantly, my relationships. I should stress here, life is a matter of perspective. With that said, there weren't so much ramifications of my relationships, but rather perceived ramifications. I wondered in the wilderness for centuries in soul-years. In that distant meandering, I lost a sound sense of that heartfelt connection that comes when two people join in concert of love. This isn't sexual love, no this is the bond of love that unites us all as a family, this is what keeps you coming back to your brother or sister after you have a falling out. It's a deep rooted understanding of another's heart and soul. It's the same type of compassion that can lead you to rise above despising one person for imposing some nonsensical legality on you, such as a security guard making you move to another table in the library because you are sitting in a "kid's" area, when there are no kids anywhere near using the area. (My situation this moment.) I see this man's heart and I see that he has to follow/impose rules which he didn't write. He's performing his duty and, for being loyal, I respect him.

There is a delightful band of musically inclined hooligans running about the world under the name "Mumford and Sons." These guys have a song titled "Roll Away Your Stone" which runs to the tune of an inspirational folky epic that speaks to the heart of life in such incredible degrees of glory that it sets my feet dancing and my tongue singing. Yes, I love these guys. The chorus speaks to the perception of distance between you and I:

Darkness is a harsh term, don't you think?
Yet it dominates the things I see...
It seems that all my bridges have been burned,
But you say that's exactly how this grace thing works-
It's not the long walk home that will heal this heart,
But the welcome I receive with a restart!

Beautiful, isn't it? This matter of grace has come when I decided to come out of the wilderness and set my feet back on a shared path. How did I begin to come out of the wilderness, though?

I had a revelation.

I was talking with my brother last night about navigation and compasses. We have compasses to guide us about the surface of the earth, which rely on our relation to the magnetic poles of this planet. I saw, in my wanderings about the proverbial countryside of the glorious life, that I was lacking direction;

My compass was lost.

I wouldn't say broken; nay, it was confused. I discovered that, in this life, we have the option to orient ourselves to any number of "poles." Benjamin, last night, said that in order to find his way, in order to navigate life, he needed a grounding-a faith. When we chose to orient ourselves about something, someone, somewhatever, we are configuring our compass to lead us by that direction. You see it when you fall in that enraptured love, which leads all of your decisions to guide you in the general direction of your affection. You see it when you steadfastly pursue education, so that you yearn to learn all throughout life-your compass leads you to new opportunities for cognitive expansion, because that is where you place importance in life. The same goes for adventure, money, God. If you establish the importance of money as paramount in your life, then your compass will direct you by the force of our monetary economy. When the economy drops or rises, you experience those shifting tides in a very personal way, because you have oriented yourself with that essence, that spirit.

So I tried orienting my compass to different poles until I found the one which guided me in love, grace, peace, and simplicity straight out of the wilderness. 

My compass became fixed.

Fixed, as in made new, made whole.

Fixed, as in set on course.

Love is the sweet nectar of life.

When you are presented a choice in how to view a situation, which is literally every moment, it would serve you well to see events in shades of love. Life takes on a simplicity of beauty when this is done. Are there still problems? Nope. Only challenges. Where does love fall short of shining? I'm out to say there exists no such place.