When the carnival comes to town each year, it is always a fun time for all. We can especially enjoy the roller coaster, the tilt-a-whirl, the Ferris wheel and the carousel, all going around and around. Games like whack-a-mole, the bean bag toss and throwing darts hoping to pop a balloon all offer fun and entertainment. Night after night, friends can enjoy the rides, the games of chance, the music, the colors and all the amusements and delights. However, after the carnival leaves, we can find ourselves in everyday life still riding the roller coaster of up and down, around and around, or even the bean bag toss hoping we can finally get that bag into the right bucket for the prize. In reality, we can continue going through the same actions only to experience unwanted repeated results; making the same choices only to arrive back at the same place. Sometimes we may even make a completely different choice, but it ultimately ends the same way.

These ‘around and around, up and down’ cycles are known as cycles of ignorance, meaning the believer has not yet been exposed to the Truth. It is important to understand that repetitive action (and the resulting consequence) is not our teacher. The wide road is the one that offers many choices and many options, but it is completely void of faith and obedience. When we select our own choices and options from the long menu, it is because we want change for our own benefit, rather than choosing God and only wanting, and fully accepting, His purpose for our life. This wide road of choices and options does not show the way. The way is found through commitment and determination to stay the course that God has laid out before each of us. As we travel on the Spiritual Journey, we learn and grow when we find the true path that will help us develop what it is we truly desire: God’s plan for our life. Always get still and wait for counsel and instruction.