Going around in circles

Yellow is Blessington greenway, red was my path approx.

I ran (barefoot) about 10 miles today. Towards Blessington then south along the greenway to Poulaphouca then back home. Only, for added interest, I veered off from the greenway into the woods and towards the lake along what seemed a well-worn path. But it degenerated into nothingness as such paths do, so then I tried heading back to the greenway but got lost. Regrettably I had no GPS with me. I passed this corrugated iron shelter and then found myself passing it again some while later. And getting tangled in brambles - bad enough, they would have been impassable later in the year. I didn't think I could be so dumb as to go round in a circle, but dumb I was. A lesson to one and all!

I seem to recall that the early Israelites could have got to their promised land in less than two weeks rather than the 40 years it actually took, and most of them died on the way so the 40 years becomes a bit irrelevant. Back when I lived in London I was part of a Christian youth group and I remember one sage among us announcing that he thought we were about to "move into the promised land" (figuratively speaking) - none of us knew what this meant but it had a good feel to it. But I recall thinking - what will change?

This set me thinking (I had plenty of thinking time among those brambles) about my own life. I often marvel at the robustness of my fellow Christians - how they can keep on believing that they will "get there" wherever "there" is, whilst never actually (yet) achieving it. I hope this is faith rather than wishful thinking. But what if the direct path to get "there" was actually quite short, and the reason for me (or anyone else for that matter) not seeming to get any nearer my goal was because I am going around in circles?