Progress

"We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive." -- C.S. Lewis

I love this quote by Lewis.  It sums up a major theme in my life over the past 5 years.  It is an ironic quote, in many ways, but the truth of it cannot be denied.  I was talking with a friend of mine a few weeks ago about exactly this idea of identifying a wrong road you are on and then having the courage to turn around and go back to the right road.  In my experience, most people want to argue that although they are on the wrong road, they have traveled too far on that road to do an absolute about-face and get on the right road.  Their arguments consist of things like, "I've been doing this for too long to just stop suddenly," or "There is some good in all this and I am choosing to hang on to that," or "I am refuse to stop and give up everything I've been fighting for for all this time."  My response to these arguments is - Is time a measure of the righteousness or legitimacy of thoughts and actions?  Is the small amount of good comparable to the mountain of evil, pain, and hurt your poor choices have resulted in?  Is what you have been fighting for worth your holding onto?  The way I see it, you are still on the wrong road, and that will not change until you stop, turn around, and go back to the right road.  While this may seem like a regression, it is in actuality, as Lewis stated, a progression.  It is progression into what is right, into what is healthy, into what God has intended and planned for you.

It seems like such a simple concept when viewed in this way, but the reality is that living it out is anything but simple.  It requires us to give up our pride and sense of accomplishment that is associated with our "progress" on the wrong road.  It requires us to be broken and humble and admit that we have been wrong.  The longer we have been on this wrong road, the harder it is for us to do this.  Yet, the thought of true progress should spur us on to make that about-face, and make it as quickly as possible.  The thought of reconciliation with our Saviour should comfort us in the difficulty of that change process.  The thought and realization of all that God has for us on the right road should be more than enough to inspire us to make the temporary hard decision of going back and getting on the right road in exchange for the lasting reward of the progress we will make on the right road.  The decision is ours, now and always.  Will you trade a false sense of progress on a wrong road for the hard truth of progress on the right road?  I am sure this is a question we will all ask ourselves many times in our lives.  I pray that my answer will always be to turn back and find the right road, no matter what the cost.