The Path of Life

“You will make known to me the path of life…” Psalm 16:11

In this passage, David is telling us there is a path of life that leads to our well being. Unfortunately, many of us never find it. In so much of our decision making, we lean hard on our intentions and aspirations, but ultimately pay precious little attention to the path we choose to get there.

The July 2010 issue of the Harvard Business Review contained an article written by Clayton Christiansen that addresses this point. Christiansen, a Rhodes Scholar and professor at the Harvard Business School says, “Over the years I have watched the fates of my HBS classmates from 1979 unfold. I have seen more and more of them come to reunions unhappy, divorced, and alienated from their children. I can guarantee that not a single one of them graduated with the deliberate strategy of getting divorced and raising children who would be estranged from them. Yet they went down a path that led to this consequence.”

We all have hopes, dreams, and aspirations for our lives, but rarely do we ask the question- What is the path that will take me there? At the end of the day, it is the path we go down, not good intentions, that will determine our ultimate destination in life.

Richard Simmons, III