Lord, which way?

"I am with you."


I used to think that free will meant that God gave us the power to make the Right Decision. When presented with two options, one was always The Right One and the other The Wrong One. God left it up to us to discern between the two and choose for ourselves.

My every experience, my every memory, the ones I hold dearest most of all, and truly the very story of my life should have shown me long ago that this simply isn't true. If I'd have looked hard enough, it would have been obvious.

If at every crossroads, one choice is always Right and the other Wrong, then it isn't really free will at all, is it, but rather a trick. We have a choice but no real options and, in our human blindness, are doomed to fail.

The difference between The Right Thing and The Wrong Thing is only half the story. Maybe a little less than half. God gives us a will that is free to choose not only Right from Wrong - which at once compresses life into the table of contents of the Catechism yet elevates it beyond anything humanity is capable of living - but A from B. "Lord, which way?" I had to hear the story a dozen times in two different contexts to finally listen to the reply. "I AM WITH YOU," sayeth the Lord. Choose a way, sayeth the Lord. And make it right. And trust. And live.