Navigating Life: Two Options

By Ross

Suppose I was blind and that I had, for the very first time in my life, to step out of my house and walk along a badly paved road marred with yawning potholes, huge piles of rubble and mountains of garbage. It's also clogged with people, all moving about in a mad rush, and in addition, there’s heavy vehicular traffic all around. Knowing that I had never faced anything like this ever before, and that, therefore, I would almost inevitably meet with a grievous accident if I tried walking on my own, a kindhearted passerby offers to hold my hand and guide me along the way so that I can get to my destination safely.

In this scenario, I have two choices before me. I can choose to take up this person’s generous offer, in which case I will be able to walk along the road safely and get to my destination. On the other hand, I can choose to decline this offer of assistance, adamant that I want to try to navigate the road myself.

If I were to choose the first option, you’d likely think that I made a very good decision, knowing that in this way, I will likely arrive safely where I want to. But if I were to opt for the second alternative, you would, I suppose, think it was very foolish of me. And you’d possibly also think, “This silly man must be very conceited. Maybe his ego, his pride, prevents him from acknowledging his handicap, because of which he refused to accept the help he absolutely needs to walk along the road to get where he wants to.” And if—as would be inevitable—I meet with a grievous accident while stumbling along the road, you might tell yourself, “It serves that arrogant, foolish man right. He ought to have known he just couldn’t walk on that busy road safely without someone’s assistance. And now he’s paying the price for his foolishness and pride in refusing the kind passerby’s generous offer of help.”

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The same is true with our life as such. At birth, each of us comes into the world for the first time ever. We’ve never been to this world before, and so, we have no prior experience of navigating it. We are like a blind man who is walking on a busy, pot-holed street for the very first time in his life.

This world is filled with myriad challenges. All of us are bound to face some challenge or the other every now and then. Like the blind man stepping into a busy street for the first time ever, we have two choices before us: We can choose to try to navigate through this world entirely on our own, facing all the many challenges that come our way on our own steam. We can think, “I want to lead my life entirely my way. I don’t need or want to abide by anyone else’s guidance or to take their help, no matter how well-meaning they might be.”

On the other hand, we can choose to navigate through this world with the help of God, the One who brought us into being and into this world. We can think, “God knows best how I should live in this world for it is He who created me and sent me here. Moreover, He has Himself offered to guide me through the world, holding me by my hand as it were, at every step of my life. If I take up His offer of assistance, I know I will make the best of my life.”

If we choose to try to manage our life on our own, without taking up God’s generous offer to help us with it, we are bound to make a big mess of it. We’d be like the blind man who steps onto a busy road for the first time in his life and tries to get to his destination on his own, refusing a kind passerby’s offer of assistance, because of which he meets with a grievous accident. On the other hand, if we choose to take up God’s offer of help to guide us through our journey in this world, we can be confident of navigating it successfully, facing the challenges that are bound to come our way with the required strength and wisdom, and, above all, with the grace of the Almighty. We’d then be like the blind man who, wise and humble enough to know that he just wouldn’t be able to manage to navigate a busy road on his own, accepts the generous offer of a kind passerby to hold his hand and guide him along the way till he arrives safely at his desired destination.