The Road Not Taken

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;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

Robert Frost 1915

The Promise of Prayer

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11)

We’ve all seen little kids on long car trips – after a little while they begin to ask that most profound question, “Are we there yet?” Naturally the parental response is to inform the child that they have not yet arrived at their destination. Invariably a few minutes, or seconds, later the child again ponders aloud the question, “Are we there yet?” While it may be irritating for parents to constantly be barraged by the same question, there is something to be said for a child’s persistence in continuing to ask. It is this persistence that Jesus wants his followers to develop in terms of our prayer life because in doing so we will enjoy the wonderful gifts that the Father has for us.