Two roads diverged in a wood . . . .

I have been struggling with something lately.  And as much as it helps me blog about it, I cannot at this time.  Let's just say my husband and I have some decisions to make.  And it's not easy.

It's during times like this that writing helps me.  I write my thoughts, my struggles, my prayers.  It helps me to clear my head and focus on what's important.  I guess some people could say it helps me "center".  And since I am unable to divulge any information on our struggles at this time, I will do my best to write around it.

We find ourselves at the fork in the road.  One path is what we have always known.  We the know both the blessings and the struggles that come with it.  It's familiar.  It's comfortable.

The other path is change.  It's different.  It could mean opportunity.  It could be full of disaster.  There is no way to know.  It's a leap of faith.

Change is always scary.

In one of my favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemption, there is a scene where Morgan Freeman's character says this:

Red: These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That's institutionalized.

To me it sums up a lot of us in this life when faced with change.

We get so used to what we know, that when the door of opportunity opens, we are sometimes too afraid to step through it.  Afraid of the unknown.  Afraid of no guarantees.  Afraid of making the wrong the choice and falling on our faces.


So how do you know when it's time to choose the different path and venture into the unknown?  Maybe it's when the pain of what you do know becomes too hard to bare.  Maybe it's health or relationships are at stake.  Maybe it when you feel you finally get an answer to prayer.  Or maybe it's when you just need something different or an adventure.  I think maybe for everyone, the reasons differ.

Here we are, staring down 2 paths.  Familiar is one, with it is comfort that we know.  And one that has not been traveled.  At least not by us.


The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

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.

Perhaps it is our time to take the path less traveled.  Maybe it's time for us take a leap of faith and trust that we are in the Lord's hands and He will care for us.  We are praying and searching for the right answers.  We are praying that whatever path we are meant to take, be made clear to us.  And if we can have that, I know no matter what path it is, we'll be okay.