The Straight & Narrow

Brian Collier
Nov 6 · 4 min read

Victor Hugo, in his book Les Miserables, writes, “The straight line, a respectable optical illusion which ruins many a man.” I think Ole’ Vic might be onto something here. Lines are everywhere, but they hardly ever appear perfectly straight. So what is he talking about? Don’t let me fool you into thinking I’ve actually read Les Miserables–I’ve seen how thick that thing is. So I can’t exactly explain why he said that in the context of that story, but I do know it has some profound meaning. Indulge me for a moment.

Have you ever gone for a hike up the side of a mountain? It’s pretty difficult to scale it in a straight line. The elevation gain is much more dramatic, gravity is working extra hard against you, and the energy required to climb is greater. There is a beautiful workaround though called switchbacks, or cutbacks. The path travels at a lesser angle sideways, back and forth up the mountain. The path might be longer, but much more reasonable on the body.

Switchbacks on well-known Y Hike in Provo, UT.

After getting to the top, you look down and see that the path wasn’t as ziggy and zaggy as it appeared while on the path. Altitude offered a new perspective. Imagine you kept traveling away at an increased altitude. What would that line look like at a 10,000 ft view? 100,000 ft view? 1,000,000 ft view?

The line appears increasingly straight with more altitude or perspective. I mentioned before that lines are everywhere, but hardly ever perfectly straight. I can think of one path that is perfectly straight. In fact, it’s called the Straight and Narrow. It’s the path that Christ showed us how to walk and it ultimately leads to peace and joy.

Walking this path in my own life is anything but straight. In God’s eyes, I probably look like a drunken fool zigging and zagging across the path, sometimes almost reaching the path only to veer off again into prickly bushes. But His ways are higher ways. They are not my ways. I’m on the ground trekking and don’t see His perspective. Every once in a while, I catch a glimpse as I look down to see where I’ve traveled. I realize I have come a long way and that I’m a little closer to the top of the mountain than I was before. In reality, Heavenly Father sees all at the 1,000,000 Ft view. He sees me and it appears that I’m actually on the path.

So how would a straight line “ruin a man” as Victor Hugo noted? When we expect to travel the Straight and Narrow in a straight and narrow way, we will inevitably be discouraged at the first sign of our personal detour. Heavenly Father doesn’t expect us to travel this way. If not, why would He send His son to walk the path with us? Why would Christ forever and always lovingly call us by name back to the path if He knew we wouldn’t veer off? Why would the Father do it if not for the very knowledge He has that we will veer off–not once, not twice, but time and time again? I think Victor correctly observed that a man can be led to discouragement and perhaps despair if he expects his life to mirror what is only perceived as a straight line. However, man is never permanently ruined by this notion for Christ’s love never ceaseth. No human is beyond His reach.

It’s my belief that God wants us to cross the path as often as possible, for that’s all we can do as imperfect children learning to walk as He does. He cares more about the direction we are heading than where we are at on the path or how many times we have detoured. We don’t have to let the straightness of the path be overwhelming, we only have to remember the plan from the beginning–that His grace allows us to return as often as it takes.

Brian Collier

Written by

Child of god, husband, father, son, brother, curious by nature, designer, brander, long-distance runner, intrigued by religion, comedy, philosophy, psychology.

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