Trail Blazers*

Trail Blazers refer to the signage or symbols along a trail, so that you know where to go next.  The blazers are put there by people who went before you.  If you have not been on the trail before or not in a long time, you need to look for these blazers and follow them so you don’t get lost.  This is a great metaphor for the spiritual journey.  It is about growth from where and who you are, to where you go next and who you will become.  The future is unfamiliar, so we have to trust and hope in the blazers put there by mentors who have gone before us.  In recovery programs these would be sponsors, steps and home groups.  In religious paths they would be spiritual directors or gurus.  Self-will run riot is where you decide to ignore the signs and bushwhack it yourself where you will stumble around, get lost, scratched, frustrated and get nowhere of use.  And if I am coming back to a path I have not been on in a while, I especially need to follow directions, the blazers.  I may think I know where I am, but I need help to get to where I am supposed to go, to become all I was made to be.