Journeying With Low Beams

In speaking about his profession of writing, E.L. Doctorow said: “It’s like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights illuminate, but you can make the whole trip that way, you see.”

This bit of wisdom applies to our journey with Christ as well. Jesus once told his disciples, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But the Spirit of truth, who is to come, will guide you to all truth” (Jn 16: 12-13).

It often seems that the Spirit’s default mode is low beam light, which reveals only a few steps of the path ahead of us. High beam light seems to be reserved for a few prophets and teachers. Why is this so? Here are some possibilities:

• We might become discouraged and stop in our tracks if we could see the challenges we will face down the road.

• If we always knew what is coming, we might well lose the capacity for curiosity, exploration, and delight.

• The inability to see very far forces us to make our journey more slowly, which encourages attention, mindfulness, and contemplation.

Eden Phillpotts said, “The world is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.” St. Paul said as much to the Corinthians: “Eye has not seen, and ear has not heard … what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Love illumines the road ahead of us — not too far, but you can make the whole trip that way, you see.