The path used to lead to a house that now lies under the earth, a house to which many sisters, young in the life, came for further training in being a sister. Long ago now. The house was a waystation on a journey, for the young, for sisters choosing small group living, and later, for refugees choosing this country and trying to make their way. The path in the photo led to a place, and metaphorically to a way of life.
The unfinished path is more a metaphor now. The rest of the path is up to us. The path to God in scripture (provided we make the right choices) is depicted as level, straight and smooth. One has to stay within the metaphor; actual life is none of those. More like the path “the enemy” has tampered with: “They dug a pit in my path” (Ps. 57:6).
Every Advent we pray that “the mountains be made low, the pathway be made straight, the highway smooth—for the coming of God in our day”. God can cut through any geography. You search out my path…and are acquainted with all my [rugged, uneven, crooked] ways (Ps. 139:3). Even if we have found ourselves in the Pit.