The Path

 

As I walked through my neighborhood park, The thick green grass revealed a footpath created by those who choose to forego the sidewalk. As often as I pass this way, I had never noticed the worn grass before.

It brought to mind the Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken”. It is one of my favorites, beautiful in every way.

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

Throughout our lives we are constantly faced with choosing from among many paths. Some paths seem easy and turn out to painfully difficult. Other paths are so challenging that they seem too much for us, only to lead to fulfillment and purpose.

The thing about paths is this; we only see the first few steps. The rest is beyond the vanishing point of of our vision. We only discover the shape and direction of the path after we are well on our way in following.

Faith calls us to find God and meaning along the way of all our paths. The Psalmist writes, “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” This “path of life” of which the writer speaks is available to us, no matter what other path we are traveling. That is the thing about God; God is everywhere, walking with us even when we have chosen, for a time, the wrong path.

Peace.