When I was in elementary school, I walked the same way, every day to Garfield Elementary, in St. Cloud, MN.

I walked to the end of our alley, and took a left a 1/2 block to Martini’s neighborhood store. Right one block. Left one block. Right one block. Left one block to Garfield Elementary. I loved it there.

The route I traveled came to be affectionately called, “the Zig Zag Way” by my family. I loved the Zig Zag Way. Along the way, I would create different adventures. One day I was a cowboy riding my horse, Flicka, to some outpost in the wilderness. When the snow would pile up on the boulevards, I’d walk on top of the snow as an explorer in the far, northern tundra, facing danger at every turn.

I also loved the Zig Zag Way because it was predictable. I always knew where to turn. It was dependable. It always guided me to school, and back home.

When I left for college to begin finding a life and path of my own, I had to figure out where to go. There was no predetermined way. I made some decisions and took some turns that caused some angst and suffering. I struggled to find my way, especially those first years of college.

But I don’t believe that I zigged where I should have zagged. Or zagged where I should have zigged. No. I can now see that I zigged where I needed to zig. I zagged where I needed to zag, at that point in my soul’s journey.

When the soul incarnates, there is a basic architecture for our life which is set up in the Pre-Birth Planning Process. This planning involves the family we are born into, and our gender for that lifetime. Other souls are cast to be key characters in the play of our lives. Perhaps a birth into a body with specific challenges is planned. And so on. But beyond the basic architecture, there are no predetermined ways. Much of the way we walk through this world is up to the choices we make. It could go this way, or that way.

Whatever it is that we choose to do, is born from what our soul needed to do and learn, at that particular intersection of our lives. Looking back, I’m glad I did what I did. I wouldn’t be who and what I am today if I hadn’t.

As a young boy, the Zig Zag Way was the way TO school. But as we make our way through this world, the Zig Zag Way IS the school!

We learn from the decisions we make on the journey. Life truly is not a destination, but a path, with seemingly endless possibilities, forks, and consequences.

In your zigging and your zagging, remember you are Love, and are Loved. In every choice. In every turn you choose to make. You are never alone.

Pastor Tim Tengblad

timtengblad@comcast.net

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