Choosing the Trail

DFW Airport

Wednesday Oct 24, 2018

God certainly got my attention yesterday just before I left. Every morning I listen to “Our Daily Bread” devotionals. Sometimes they’re okay and a good reminder, but sometimes...WHAM!

Yesterday was a WHAM day!

I’m going to give you the text since I can’t figure out how to send a link. The title of the meditation is: Choosing the Trail.

1 have a beautiful autumn photograph of a young man on horseback in the Colorado mountains as he contemplates which trail ahead to follow. It reminds me of Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken.” In it, Frost ponders two pathways that lie before him. Both are equally inviting, but he doubts he will return to this place again, and he must choose one. Frost wrote, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

In Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), the Lord told His listeners, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (7:13-14).

On our journey through life, we face many choices about which road to travel. Many pathways seem promising and attractive but only one is the pathway of life. Jesus calls us to travel the road of discipleship and obedience to God’s Word—to follow Him instead of the crowd.

As we ponder the road ahead, may God give us wisdom and courage to follow His way—the road of life. It will make all the difference for us and those we love!

By David C. McCasland

Many of you know that Frost’s poem is one of my favorites and has marked almost all of the turning points in my life as I faced a difficult decision. Sometimes I realized it before the decision, and sometimes after. But it has always been there. Just like the poem “The Hound of Heaven” which led me into my ordained ministry.

How appropriate that God should plan for me to hear this as I’m pondering what form my future ministry will take and walking out the door to see if this adventure affirms it or not.

I truly think, as I ponder being a ‘poustinia presence’ or 'pilgrim of the sacrament of the present moment’ on my journeys, that I’m once again taking “...the road less traveled.”

However, spiritual reflection tells me this is a double edged sword...a blessing of my future endeavors, or...a warning I’m straying from His will.

How hard it is to make these discernments when I no longer have a spiritual director or mentor. So I turn to the community for help. If you have any Word, I’d love to hear what you discern. Hopefully, however many of you choose to answer, the leadings will all be the same and just not more confusion for me! Which, of course, could be an answer in itself.... <big grin>

Blessings!

Padre