Day 53 - Roads

 

 Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are times when I become deeply introspective, and I like to consider the words of people who are able to express similar thoughts in ways that even stump the minds of those considered to be "great thinkers."

I have a plaque on my bedroom wall with the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson noted above. He lived during the transcendental period of history and literature, a time of self-reliant introspection and contemplation. I often look at that quotation, and I realize that I don't follow what people call the "norm," and I doubt I ever will.  I want to be true to who I am, and be able to touch someone's life with the deeds that I do, words that I write, and things I speak. I don't seek the applause of man, as my Father has His hand on my life, and anything that brings Him honor and glory is all that I want in this life.

 “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”

Henry David Thoreau

Civil Disobedience and Other Essays

In this literary work Thoreau spoke of people going to their graves without realizing their full potential, probably because so few were willing to take a risk that involves completely changing the mediocrity of their lives. At least that is how I interpret the meaning of those words, although I confess it has been years since I read Thoreau or Emerson.

Some consider me to be a "free spirit," and I hope I am, free in the sense of not following someone's opinion of what I should or should not do, or even if I am not, in their eyes, able to do something. I believe in dreams, and I realize more each day that the path of our lives are laid out in front of us, guiding us along the way. We just need to look harder, and we'll see it. The way is darkened by circumstances which try to discourage us, yet all we need to do is listen to One voice, the still small voice, to get bearings for our lives.

I have been talking in my blogs about being willing to stand when others run or cower behind the lies. I cannot do that. I have to be true to my convictions, never critical of how someone else may feel, but straight forward when the time calls for it regardless of the consequences. I admit it gets pretty tense at times, but I stand true to what I feel is the right thing to do.

I just finished watching a movie called "Steel Magnolias" about friends who stick together through difficult times. Based in the south it brings many memories to mind, and touches my heart in ways that are difficult to express. The tragedy in the movie is a bit close to home for me, as it speaks of the closeness of a mother-daughter bond. I miss that very much, but I pray that one day things will take a different turn, and things can be as they should. Until then, I hang on to memories, precious times and dream of those to come.

Sometimes there's a price to pay in life, but in the end I believe "all things work together for good, for the called according to His purpose." And that's my life.

The Road Not Taken

By Robert Frost

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 kept 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.