I have let you see [the Promised Land] with your eyes, but you shall not go over there. (Deuteronomy 34)

The art of living is not so much our ability to pick one path and pursue it doggedly to the end. It has more to do with how well we are able to change paths and shift directions when the situation demands it. Most of all, the art of living is the ability to respond with grace and faith when the journeys we make in life are interrupted and left unfinished.

If I may use the analogy of sports: life is not like a track meet, where you run in a straight, predictable direction until you finish the race. Life is more like a football game.

You rarely see a football player run with the ball in one direct, uninterrupted path to the goal line. Instead, he has to bend and swerve and change direction o…