The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost’s poem about life choices is set in the first two lines, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood / And sorry I could not travel both.” It is the nature of living that we will face many choices which in turn will tell the stories of our lives. But I had thought the title of this poem was “The Road Less Traveled” and that it was encouraging a certain way of thinking about facing the forks in our roads. The final lines seem to imply this, “Two roads diverged in a wood / And I took the one less traveled by / And that has made all the difference.” One interpretation has been that the non-conformist road is better than the mainstream road which seems to be taken by the majority.

That’s what I had wanted the poem to say. I wanted Frost to agree with Jesus that the way of the majority is broad, but ends in judgment and disappointment. On the other hand, the narrow way may be difficult because it is not well worn by many travelers, but taking that forsaken path makes all the difference in our eternal destiny.

In fact, as I study the poem, I believe that it notices, with regret, the inevitability of life changing choices that must be made without a complete understanding of where they may lead and the revised perspective we have of those choices when we look back at them in the future. Those choices that make “all the difference” are made with limited perspective.

In a sense, Frost’s poem does say what I had desired. That is, he says that a choice must be made and you must take the one that seems right, for whatever reason, at the time. But, about our way of life, we have chosen to follow Christ because, by faith, we can see farther down the road, all the way to the end. We believe that Jesus is the trailblazer who has created a new path – not the mainstream path that is comfortable and often requires no choice at all, since it just goes with the flow. And not the path that blends with all other paths, giving no indication of the destiny that lies ahead. Jesus has blazed a dangerous, difficult path that is not so appealing. It is not a path for the mere adventurer (though it is full of adventure), since he will be disappointed with the commonness of its setting. Nor is it a path for those seeking the common, since Jesus continually challenges the norms of life.

If Jesus wrote about the road not taken, there would be no regret, no wondering about the other path. He confidently sought the Father’s will at every juncture of his life so we have no need for doubt or regret. Remember, we follow Him.