Have you ever said to yourself, “I have several choices, so what should I do?” The poet Robert Frost felt the same angst about making such a choice.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both…
As we go through life we too are confronted with choices: what degree to pursue, what person to marry, what job to take, what doctor to choose, what house to buy, and on and on. Often we don’t realize how much our choice matters until we have made a wrong one.
In this reading in Matthew we are confronted with an important choice between two options:
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate
and broad is the way that leads to destruction,
and there are many who go in by it.
Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way,
which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (7:13-14)
Here the author confronts us with two options – a wide gate or a narrow gate. The first path not only had more travel through its broad gates, but it was seemingly spacious and enticing. It offered instant gratification for one’s personal desires and there were many people choosing to travel on it.
The second path was narrower, more difficult to travel on, and had fewer people on it. At first glance it looked less inviting and maybe not as pleasurable as the first. And it seemed to offer fewer options and more constraints. Since there WAS another option, maybe more time was needed to make a decision.
But then the words of a poem by J.R.R. Tolkien in his novel, ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ came to mind – ‘all that is gold does not glitter’. Yes, the reading did say that the broad road, with wide enticing gates, would eventually lead to destruction; while the narrow gate would lead to life. Two choices… and each one would end differently.
Now the narrow road might not be a padded life or offer instant gratification and would need to be a choice I made for a lifetime. It would involve personal growth and that would offer me the opportunity for developing qualities of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control which was do-able since I would have God’s strength to help me. Ultimately, these qualities would make life rewarding. So, here I was again faced with several choices. But in the end, I chose the narrow road because it would offer life forever…and eventually streets of gold that really did ‘glitter’!
Two roads diverged in a wood,
And I – I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
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