The Road Not Taken....A Sacred Journey

 

 

One of my favorite Poems is by Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken”.  I’m not sure exactly when I grew to love it, but I was very young.  This was the first poem/writing which I remember provoking me to think…. 

 

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;	5
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,	10
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.	15
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.

There are many interpretations for this poem…and, that is a good thing because that is what writing poetry is all about…provoking thought of a reader. 

That is what I hope to do with my new blog “page” ….provoke thought.  Provoke MY thought.  And, if in some way, my humble writing provokes your thought, then that is good tooJ 

The name for my blog page “Sacred Journey” came to me quickly.  I had not thought when I deactivated my Facebook page that I would be impacting access to my blog.  And, frankly, even if I had thought of it, I would never have thought anyone would really care that they no longer had access.  But, as God is ‘oft to do, He surprised me.  I had many individuals contact me to ask that I not shut down my blog….humbling to say the least.   

And so, I set out to figure out the best and simplest way to do that, thus….my new Facebook page, Sacred Journey. 

As I head into the final half (God willing, I will make it to my goal of 100 years), of my life, I view things with a much more intimate and personal vision.  I now understand that all of life is as Ann Voscamp’s blog indicates, “A Holy Experience”.  That’s not to say that everything in our lives “feels” holy….surely my friend Katie’s potty training experience, my friend Nancy’s falling accident, and divorce is not holy in the sacred sense…. 

But, is it? 

Do we become holy within the things we go through and in how we respond to them, ultimately? 

I think so.   

I love the kid’s Bible definition of HOLY:  “Holiness means that God is scrubbed up and clean in every way” 

Holiness seems too heady for children to understand, but it's not.Simply put, God's Holiness means that He's Perfect and Clean in every way.Kids can trust that God is Perfectly Loving, Perfectly Truthful and Perfectly Faithful.Exploring Holiness cultivates an unshakable trust and transparency with a God who is Perfectly Dependable.Teaching your children that God is Holy -- that He's Perfect and Clean, will give them a stable foundation for an unshakable faith.

http://www.dg4kids.com/attribute/god-is-holy/ 

For, if we can teach our children, and ourselves, that God is Holy…Perfect….Clean in every way…that he is perfectly loving, perfectly truthful, perfectly faithful…. 

It’s not only his perfection which is important (because we know we can never be perfect on our own), but it is the knowledge that by being a part of Him, we are made perfect IN Him…

Holy….Sacred

 

For me, I find in that, great comfort. 

That because my God is Holy, He makes us Holy in Him. 

Pure, perfect….HIS 

So that, as we travel through life, we don’t have to worry about being perfect on our own.  We don’t have to really worry about which path we take, we have to worry who we take with us on the journey…

Thus, it becomes a “Sacred Journey”              ….with HIM 

Sacred has many definitions, but the ones which touch me intimately are “devoted, dedicated and revered”.   

 I can do those things….

I can devote myself to worship, to family, to service

I can dedicate myself to being a good wife, mom, daughter

I can revere those things God gives me in life:  safe home, good job, faithful friends 

I can do those things on a daily basis and I can do them with a heart for Him which grows a heart of holiness in me. 

Then, even the smallest, most minute thing we do matters…

 

It will matter that I apologize after blowing up at my kids after a bad day, it will matter that I make right a disagreement with a co-worker, it will matter that I take time to send a note to a sick friend, it will matter that I actually DO pray for someone I commit to pray for… 

It will matter…those little things and those big things, those public things and those private things… 

And, taking HIM with us on our journey will “make all the difference”…… 

I love this analysis of Robert Frost’s poem, because I think it rings true…. 

There are times in life when we have to make choices and we can never
go back to that time and change our choice.

So we make the best choice - and then make the best of that choice 

I love that last sentence… 

“So we make the best choice (as we see it at that time) and then make the BEST of that choice.” 

And, ultimately, that is all we CAN do… 

Even as a young girl, I always took that last passage in the poem to mean that by taking the one less traveled by I was taking the path God was on…. 

I took to heart Matthew 7:14 “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

That’s the path I wanted to take.

That’s the path I want to take. 

That is the path which leads to the SACRED JOURNEY of life. 

Blessings,

Lesa