there is a path, but no right way to its finish

My own (admittedly limited) experience with people who have become great friends of God is that their spiritual capacity is matched by a strong tendency toward rebellion and riot. Their fidelity is all the greater for being persistently tested. What matters is arriving at the destination, and the only way to accomplish it is to keep moving, undeterred by mistakes and mishaps—whether these come from one’s own will, from powerful forces within, or from outside. It is to be expected that our journey will veer away from the theoretically correct course. Instead of denying that we have gone wrong, or continually backtracking to the point where we went astray, we must set a new course determined by the real situation and its relation to our destination. Prayer is our means of taking a sighting of re-orienting ourselves by re-establishing contact with our goal. In the presence of God many components of our life fall into perspective and our journey begins to make more sense.

—Michael Casey, The Ancient Wisdom of Western Prayer