Which Road

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 -Robert Frost (The Road Not Taken).

I went for my weekly hike at South Mountain yesterday. This is my third one since missing about 6-8 weeks due to ... well... life. It's been a struggle to get back to where I was and the last two weeks I did the shorter, 3-mile loop. At the top of that loop, there is a fork in the road. I can decide to begin the descent which is just over a mile. Or I can choose the other trail which goes up quite steeply for another mile and then comes back down for 3 miles... 6 miles in all.

Before my 6-week absense I had worked my way up to the 6 mile loop and was determined that yesterday would be my day. I got to the fork and made my decision. Up I went. The hike up was a challenge, but no more than I thought. Surprisingly it was the 3 miles down that wore me slap out! I had forgotten how long that trail was and I thought it would never end. My feet hurt. I was tired and hot and it wasn't nearly as fun as it was in March and April in the gorgeous spring weather.

But by the time I got home and put my feet up, I was feeling pretty happy with myself. Purposely choosing the long, hard trail was a difficult decision to make. But I did it, and the next time I at least won't be surprised by how long it takes me. It was a choice between doing what I was used to or what would help me grow. It was a choice between doing what I knew I could or stretching myself to see what I might be able to do.

Yes... of course this relates perfectly to our spiritual lives. We so often fail to stretch ourselves to see what we are really capable of doing. And in doing so we miss out on so much. We see what everybody else sees and learn what everybody else learns, but we don't experience new things within us and in the world around us. We don't take that road less travelled to see what might be new and exciting, even if it is hard and discouraging at times.

We are so afraid of "bad" feelings... of pain, discouragement, depression, grief, anger. But God gives us these emotions for a reason. They do good work inside of us. The trick is not to be consumed by them. Used well, these emotions work in us for good. They drive us into introspection, helping us examine our lives and ourselves. Introspection can motivate us to make necessary changes.

The next fork in the road that you come to in life, ask yourself if you want life as usual, or if you want to kick it into high gear and really experience more in life... even if it means some hard work and difficult times.

Father,
You have so much more in mind for us than "same ol', same ol'" every day. Help us to choose the road less travelled a little more often. Amen.

Joys: a hard but good hike; a Cecelia day today; relaxing pedis for tired feet