Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
So humor me. It’s my birthday, one of those big ones that ends in a zero and gets you savings at restaurants, grocery stores, theaters and more.
For me, almost every song ever written, especially pop and rock songs from the 1970s,
are God songs. The lyricists and performers may not have realized this at the time, and might scoff even today at this contention. That’s a matter of indifference to me. As far as I’m concerned, they’re God songs.
As I prayed over the readings for today, I kept hearing (and, I’ll be honest, listening to) the Hollies’ 1971 hit “Long Dark Road.” The tangible inspiration I suspect was the end of a romance, but, well, to me, it’s a song about getting off the broad road. The lyrics in part:
You tell me, try sell me
It could have been all I asked
It’s over, well over
It’s there and flows away
A distant past
Now it’s a long dark road
Yes a long dark road
And you know, I loved you
Yes you know, I loved you
We’ve likely all had romances and friendships and other sorts of tangible and intangible relationships that took us down broad roads of fun and pleasure and entertainment… but ultimately turned dark. Or maybe the road took us down a self-satisfying journey of pity and self-loathing and hatred.
Like the broad road, the narrow road has its challenges. The narrow road can be long, excruciatingly long at times, and it can be dark for even the most faithful among us, including the likes of Teresa of Avila. Amid one trial in particular, she told the Lord that if in fact this was the way He treated His friends, it was no wonder He had so few. It can be tempting to take a little detour and rejoin all that fun and excitement on the broad road. But spiritual detours are seldom what they seem to be in the moment.
Neither road, the broad nor the narrow, is always easy to travel. Which you choose all depends on your ultimate destination. Choose love. Choose the Lord.
