Unpopular

Matt 7:13-14
 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

There are times when I am traveling my narrow road, that I am not really aware of how narrow it is.  Other times when this narrow road intermingles, crosses, and travels alongside other roads  on this planet - roads that are wide and populous - where immediately the comparison is evident.

It is these times I feel the stab the most. The times when it is undeniably evident that I am on the lonely isolated trail. When my choices don't fit with very many others. 
Times when even the narrow path seems virtually empty.

Choosing the narrow gate - this bridge in Kosova 
seemed an appropriate symbol

 

My trip to Kosova came to mind 
as I was thinking of narrow roads!

 Perhaps it's when our decision to homeschool comes to light in a waiting room in the midst of teachers and parents who send their kids to institutional schooling. Perhaps it is when others ask if we have seen a particular T.V. show and our answer is "We don't have T.V."  Recently, it had to do with what I won't allow my eyes to see and ears to hear as it relates to theatre.

The more my narrow road intersects with the broad road - which happens when I am out and about in this world of ours - the more unpopular I realize I am!

As I looked up the definition of popular...
: liked or enjoyed by many people
: accepted, followed, used, or done by many people

: of, relating to, or coming from most of the people in a country, society, or group

...I realized that anyone who has chosen the narrow road should be known as "Unpopular." It's just the way it has to be.

Phil 3:13-14
Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.