The Untraveled Road
One of my favorite poems is The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. The poem begins with standing at a crossroads and a decision having to be made. We have choices that must be made each and every day, and sometimes they are tough choices which require time and confirmation to enact upon. Many choices are in areas where we may deem as being unfamiliar and new. An unfamiliar road is often an uncomfortable one at first. This can leave many including myself to not even take the opportunity to go on the unfamiliar road. Though what we may not realize is that once we get used to something, it becomes the baseline standard for our lives. Let me encourage you, that when you walk with God, you can find comfort amidst the discomfort. This is where He molds you and forms you into the person He wants you to be. To be surrendered is to not only say to God “His will be done”, but to live it.
Take a second to think about a time that you went somewhere new by yourself. Did you rush through that place or did you slow down to appreciate the moment that you were in? Does the Bible ever say Jesus ran from city to city during His ministry? Slow down. Sometimes while in a rush we miss the very things He intends for us to see or hear. Other times we may go down a road that wasn’t the one we were supposed to go on, but the good news is that we have a loving God who is willing to put us back on the correct path.
One of the things in this poem that I like to think about is that even if you turn back to go down that original road at the fork, it isn’t the same as going down it the first time. The original path you turned back to does not make your journey any shorter. In fact, going back many times will have us revisit the same places we had been to before. The author of the poem points this out saying that he will go back to the other road sometime only to change his mind later. Even if we do revisit previous trails, let us appreciate the road and path we traveled, the moments full of beauty, the sections full of thorns, and the areas where there seems to be no road at all.
John the Baptist was called to prepare the way for the Son of Man. A forerunner for Christ. To be a forerunner is to go ahead of the King and prepare the path. There will be times where we might find ourselves on a path that few have trekked. This doesn’t mean this couldn’t be the way we were supposed to go. If anything this should be taken as a unique responsibility the Lord has blessed you with. There must be a first for a second to follow.
The individual described in the poem took the road that seemed less traveled, but upon further recollection realized both roads were equally untraveled. Often, when we seek to adhere to God’s will for our lives we see these forks and ask the Lord which to take. Sometimes we will go down a road and find that it isn’t as we thought it would be and we wonder if it was indeed part of God’s will. Just because the road is not as you thought it would be doesn’t mean that there isn’t another road ahead. Examine where it is that God has you and ask Him, what can I learn from where I am now? How should I serve from this position?