The Path Least Taken

As seen in the HEARTbeat and the Village Voice

The Path Least Taken

             The poem by Robert Frost titled The Road Not Taken opens like this: “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.”  We make many decisions in life, looking down the paths before us as far as we can.  Eventually we have to take the path of our decision, and one we stop and look at in reverse to evaluate if it was the right one to take!

I remember going through a land navigation course while in the military.  I was working with one other person.  The area where we performed the navigation was clearly delineated on the maps, and the boundaries were the roads on each side of the area.  My partner and I found all the points and were on our last one when I realized it was by a creek.  This creek flowed into our area which means it crossed the road at some point.  I told my partner, “Let’s follow the road to this creek crossing, then we can easily find our last point and head to the finish area.”  Just as we were reaching the bridge over the creek, an administrative team approached us and said we were out of bounds.  I made the point that we never crossed over the road but merely followed it, as part of the topography.  They couldn’t argue but told us we had to stay off the road for safety reasons.  We exited the road at the creek, found our last point, and finished ahead of the other teams.

My father taught me to read a map at a young age, which I used to my advantage in every “Land Nav” exercise I was in.  Going straight to a point by using a compass azimuth meant having to go around lakes and thickets, which defeated the straight-line method.  Following the contours and topographical features is much easier for me, and a method you can use without a compass.

As we walk down paths in our lifetime, we may not always have a “compass” with us.  As the poem says, we look down the roads (the future) as far as we can, but at some point, we must make a decision based on the limited amount of evidence available to us. However, some may have an advantage that others cannot see, like being able to read the topography instead of using a hand-held compass.

Here’s the comparison: when we use a compass, we are relying on our own abilities to travel from point A to point B.  But when we read the topography, we are using what the world has given us, essentially a source outside our own making.

Such is with our walk with God.  He has given us the Holy Spirit to live in us, help us make decisions, and to guide our steps.  It is the faith walk that those who do not have the Spirit in them do not understand.  The Holy Spirit is our compass, yet He is also our information outside of our own abilities.

You will find direction in prayer for pathway decisions.  Walk in faith knowing the one who built the topography is your Holy Guide.