V. Moving to Topeka

5. Moving to Topeka

            So, anyway: Aunt Millificent was driving Hobblestone to her house, still having no idea whatsoever what she was going to do about the boy’s temper tantrums. The bridge (dealing with the tatrums) was beckoning her; she was not sure what to do; she trusted the bridge would take her to a good place.

            Rule # 3: When we don’t know where a bridge is taking us, sometimes we just have to trust; other times we have to get off the bridge before it’s too late.

            There are no easy answers, are there?

So: As we make our way through life, we are often in situations where we have to move into the unknown All you have to do is take a look at your own life to see if Rule # 3 is true or not. Or ask around.  Ask any guy the night before his marriage. Ask any monk ready to take vows. Ask a young lady the night before she gets ready to move into her college dorm for the very first time. Ask her parents wondering what it will be like at home without her around. Ask Hobblestone’s uncle before he moved to Topeka.  Ask an artist facing a blank canvas. Ask a blogger who isn’t sure if this project is going to work or not. In fact, you can even ask the Bible.

Yes, there will be Bible stuff from time to time. After all, I’m a priest, for God’s sake (literally!) But I’m not going to be obnoxious about it like those people who walk around knocking on doors and telling you that you’re going to go to hell unless you believe the Bible the way They Believe in the Bible. Heaven knows there’s too much of that going on in the world right now, and I’m not going to add to the problem and to the violence it often brings.

                So there’s a character in the Bible named Abraham; we get to meet him in the book of  Genesis, chapter 12. Abraham (originally known as Abram before his life changed after an encounter with God) is the proto-type for a human being destined to cross a bridge into the unknown. The Bible, you see, tells a lot about what it means to be human.

Well God, you see, had big plans for Abraham. But in order for them to happen, Abraham had to cross a bridge that God had already set up for him: “Abraham, go forth!” the Big Guy said. “Pick yourself up and leave everything you have known up until now and go forth to a land I will show you.” And so, just like Hobblestone’s uncle, he picked up and moved to Topeka.

Well actually, Abraham came long before Hobblestone’s uncle, but this is my blog so I’m allowed to mess around with time lines and even coin my own metaphors. And so from here on in, “moving to Topeka” will be a metaphor for moving somewhere you’ve never been before. Like Hobblestone’s uncle as he set out for, well, Topeka. Like Hobblestone on his way to his first day of work while the ink was still wet on his college diploma.

And so I ask: When have you had to move to Topeka? How did it work out? Did you have a feeling like somehow it was all planned out for you before you made the move? OK, maybe not.

                So anyway, Abraham obeyed God and picked himself up and moved to Topeka, or, as the Bible says, thus he went forth, not knowing where he was going. (Letter to the Hebrews, 11:8) And, in case you were wondering, things turned out just fine for him. Better than fine, even. Go look it up if you want. Just start at Genesis 12 and read on from there.

                And by the way, there’s a really good answer to give to Bridge-Blockers.If I were writing the Bible, I would have mentioned the Bridge-Blockers just so I could teach everyone the perfect answer to stop them dead in their tracks.

Reply to a Bridge-Blocker:  ”I’m going to give this a try and see where it takes me.”

It also helps if you have faith in whoever it is who’s designing  your bridges. Just ask Abraham.    You know, it’s a good thing that Abraham wasn’t married to Virgil’s mother. He’d never have made it to Topeka.

Oh, and one last thing: Aunt Millificent wasn’t going to have to do anything about Hobblestone’s tantrums. He was about to learn a valuable lesson, one that some people much older than he never get around to learning. And who would teach that lesson? Not Aunt Millificent, bless her soul. It was The Cat.

Now :  you don’t know where this blog is heading, so in a way, you’re also moving to Topeka.( I’m not sure I know either: Topeka, here I come.) But at least I can help you out by mentioning some questions the blog isn’t going to answer  for you:  Who decided what books made up the Bible; Why did the author (me!) choose Topeka to be the seat of a major metaphor; What did Abraham’s wife think about all this damn moving around?