Life is a journey that must be lived one mile at a time. And while certainly we can learn from others, stand on their shoulders, and make our path easier at times, there are still no shortcuts to maturity. We simply have to put in the time and do the work to become all God has called us to be.
To be sure, there’s no need to walk down every path in life, as there’s much wisdom in learning from the experiences of others. At the same time, we cannot expect others to simply give us “the answers” for our life. We must do our part to find our unique way forward and not merely settle for how others think we ought to live or the quick fixes that don’t get to the heart of the matter.
For instance, it’s easy to simply conform to what the authorities in our life tell us, or simply to the status quo in our communities. And there might be many wise insights here. But it’s bad faith when we just accept this blindly without also doing our work to know where we stand. While we don’t have to start from scratch and can build on the work of others, true faith still requires us to test and refine our own positions.
Likewise, it’s tempting to self-medicate or otherwise keep ourselves distracted from the deeper issues of life. We attempt to find a shortcut and bypass the true work needed by simply treating the symptoms rather than the problem. And like with bad faith, we’re building on a house of cards when we try to use such shortcuts.
In the end, there’s no shortcuts on the path of maturity. While standing on the shoulders of others, we must still put in the time and effort needed to realize our true potential.
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
