The Road Less Traveled

A friend gave me a book for Christmas and as I was browsing through it, a quote right at the beginning caught my eye. Partly because it is from one of my favorite poems and one of my favorite poets.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
Robert Frost

I have read that poem and the quote a million times but as I was thinking about it today, I feel like the Lord showed me something different, something new. There was a time in my life (about 10 years ago) that I thought this was exactly what I was doing. I was taking the road less traveled, going my own way, doing things my own way, but now looking back, I see that was totally wrong. Really, I was leaving the road less traveled and going down the road the whole world was going down. When I first started to look at that road, it looked like not too many people had traveled down it. After all, it was my road not anyone elses. It had to be less traveled. I was ready to do my own thing. Make my own rules. Do whatever I wanted to do. In fact, as I started down this road I had one friend ask me what did I think I was doing. Unfortunately, I told her, anything I wanted. How is that a road less traveled? If anything that is a very crowed, lonely road. I traveled that road for a while trying to make myself believe that I was in control. I was happy but if I had let anyone look inside they would have seen it was all just a mask. I wasn't happy. I had no purpose.

But the other road . . . the one that is really less traveled; it's all about purpose. The road less traveled is the one that leads to Jesus Christ. Sometimes when you start down it, it can feel like you are losing yourself but in reality you find so much more. In fact, that is exactly what Jesus said in Matthew 10.35, "Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." The road less traveled is all about Jesus and Jesus was all about serving others. That's why the other road seems so appealing. The other road is all about self; self-centered, self-serving, self-confidence. But purpose comes in laying aside self and picking up a towel and a bowl of water and serving others. Jesus served others every where He went. Whether he was feeding the 5000, healing people with leporacy, raising others from the dead or sharing a meal with "sinners". Everywhere He went He served others in order to point them to the Father. So that's what the road less traveled is about. Serving others in order to point them to the Father. I love this quote, "Tell others about Christ and when necessary use words." I don't remember who said it but since I heard it the first time it has had a huge impact on my life. We tell others about Christ by serving them. People hear about Christ much better with their eyes.

What road are you on today?