by Fr. Jack Bentz, SJ

Often the best way to see into the future is to get a good grip on the past. When trying to answer the question of what do I want? or what should I do next? Now is always the right moment to stop and take a look at what you are already doing. What is driving you right now? Where are you?

If you find yourself in the middle of a dark forest with the right road lost, you can trace what brought you into this forest this time. You can reflect on just what you thought was going to be in this forest. Were you looking for deer? Was there a tree filled with fruit that drew you in, or did you just lie down for a nap and your companions went on without you?

Answering these questions through reflection and conversation with a spiritual guide can help. You can choose to either go deeper into the metaphorical forest or turn around and leave it behind. Stumbling blindly forward is not going to help. You may find that you had excellent reasons for being where you are now and so will continue or you might discover you came into the forest on bad advice, accident, or because of unthinking inertia. All good reasons for bad decisions.

But perhaps you remember that you made a good decision to be where you are today, that when you decided to enter this particular forest it was a beautiful bright day with plenty of light. You remember being surrounded by good advice and you made a good decision. If that is the case then you must continue on your path until there is plenty of light once again. St. Ignatius if very clear about this–no life changing decisions on lonely dark days. One must wait and trust that God will continue to guide you.