By Kathryn Sadakierski

 

I walk the length of another road,

but endless paths branch from it

in every direction.

The journey was arduous

but rewarding

in strengthening me

so I can climb another mountain.

I’ve learned from the steps I’ve taken

and the hurdles I’ve leapt over,

even when the rocks seemed

too tall, too daunting

for me to ever hope of overcoming.

 

I’m proud to have completed

the trek I set out on,

but already

I’m searching for a new fork to explore.

I’m at the crossroads of happiness,

the knife’s edge of bittersweet

that keeps me reflecting

on the dreams I still dream

and where I want to be

instead of where I’m standing

currently.

 

Even when the sun dances through,

I still glance out the window

speckled with rain like rhinestones

and wonder where the road

just beyond leads.

If only I could run out there,

I’d see more clearly.

 

I can envision the summit,

blindly hastening every step

to realize the sweetness

of reaching the pinnacle

of what I’ve imagined I’d be.

But I can’t skip the peaks

that rise before me now,

the footholds I must find

before moving on to the next.

 

I don’t know where to go,

only knowing that I must,

sometime, somewhere soon,

reach the apogee I seek,

that I long to attain immediately.

 

But when God, when heaven, is the destination,

then this isn’t only my plan,

my journey,

and I have more to learn

before I understand the full picture.

Every chapter of this story,

one page at a time,

I’ll use the gifts I’ve been given,

this heart and brain,

compass and map,

and navigate by their light,

gaining my bearings,

following my North Star,

and helping other travelers

along the way.

 

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Kathryn Sadakierski is a 22-year-old freelance writer whose work has appeared in numerous anthologies, magazines, and literary journals around the world, including Agape Review, DoveTales, Edge of Faith, enLIVEN Devotionals, Refresh Bible Study Magazine, Snapdragon: A Journal of Art and Healing, and Teachers of Vision. She holds a B.A. and M.S. from Bay Path University. She’s passionate about sharing her love for God through her words, with the goal of making a positive difference by instilling hope in others.