Sacred Life Sunday -What Now?
August 3, 2008
What's up Ahead?
I just finished reading “What Now?” by Ann Patchett. It is a small book based on her commencement speech given at Sarah Lawrence College and aimed at the question that comes to us throughout our lives. We all remember family and friends asking throughout our lives – - What now? when you graduate from high school, What now? when you graduate from college, What now? when you start job hunting, What now? When you are in a committed relationship. Everyone seems interested in the next step we will be taking and all along, we are also asking ourselves that same question. She includes photos of puzzle pieces, someone standing at a crossroad, someone standing in front of multiple doors, someone walking in circles; all demonstrating that feeling and thought process of What Now? I found myself thinking, What now? is a process, not a destination. Some of us think we know where we are going and some of us actually arrive at our predetermined destination, but I’ll bet most of us take this detour and that detour and end up somewhere quite unexpected. I think this is what makes life interesting. Have you thought of your life and realized because of one decision or another, this is how you ended up where you are right now?
Patchett says, “. . .see how all the dots in your life are connected, how one decision leads you to another, how one twist of fate, good or bad, brings you to a door that later takes you to another door, which, aided by several detours- long hallways and unforeseen stairwells – eventually puts you in the place you are now. Every choice lays down a trail of bread crumbs, so that when you look behind you there appears to be a very clear path that points straight to the place where you now stand. But when you look ahead there isn’t a bread crumb in sight -. . .so you stand there, sniffing at the wind, looking for directional clues . . .What Now?”
