The Road Less Travelled
Well, here we are again, at the beginning of a new year. Christmas is neatly packed away into hibernation, as my sister put it, for another year. Only my Winter decor is left out to bring cheer & warmth during these next several weeks of wintertide which include frosty snowmen, snowy evergreens, snowflakes & snowballs.
My favorite kind of snowballs!
It's time to throw out the welcome mat & open the door to 2022! Actually, it has made its' grandiose entrance with a "ready or not here I come!" announcement whether we are ready or it is welcome! But however we feel about stepping into the new year, sort of tiptoeing into it with a bit of trepidation or jumping in with both feet abandon, or tripping over the threshold & landing flat on our faces, there is no going back, only forward. So, any new years resolutions? Goals are always good because they can keep us focused & give us something to work toward. But in the words of Robert Burns,
"The best laid schemes o' mice & men gang aft gley."
or in the familiar translation we can better understand,
"The best laid plans of mice & men often go awry."
So it would be good that we also be flexible. & in that flexibility we can still be focused. Especially when it comes to choosing the road that will lead to life.
"For wide is the gate & broad is the road that leads to destruction & many enter through it. But small is the gate & narrow is the road that leads to life & only a few find it." Matthew 7: 13 & 14
The last two lines in the poem "The Road not Taken", by Robert Frost are as follows.
"I took the one less travelled by
& that has made all the difference."
We can all put our own interpretation on this poem, but for me, the road less travelled is the narrow road because the travellers on that road are few. Now sometimes that road can be obscure, especially when there are many roads to choose from & some are very tempting & not seeming to be bad or wrong at all.
This is what I believe we should do when we come to those crossroads. Take the crossroad. Or rather, the CROSS-road. The road less taken will always be the CROSS-road. It sounds rather foreboding & scary, doesn't it? I think because it signifies death to us; but on the other side, Jesus changes our perception & we discover that it really leads to life after all. & this road truly keeps us & gives us safe & loving boundaries. Kind of like walking across a high precipice or dangerous path, with railings on each side or across a tightrope with a safety net underneath. The broad road has no such security & can cause us to plummet to our destruction or even death. This is the road where "ME" is god. You know, as the song from the 1960's says,
"It's my life & I'll do what I want....". The broad way, that leads to destruction, not life. Lots of people are on this road. & we can also choose to follow that road.
Or...
follow the Cross road.
"If anyone desires to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross & follow me."
New year, new roads, new choices, same Jesus. Yesterday, today & forever. Let's do this. Sometimes side by side, sometimes single file. Let's take this Cross road through the new year, this road less travelled. It will make all the difference. & as the song says,
"...the way of the Cross leads home!"
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