Choices and Decisions

Life is filled with choices and decisions…
 
Yesterday it was decided that “we” should go get some exercise outdoors, so Sunny and I loaded up the car with leash and throw toy and headed off to one of the local parks we frequented back in May.  When we arrived the gates to the entrance were closed and we were faced with a decision: do we head home or venture on to another location?  The dog’s excitement and heavy panting helped make the decision.  When we arrived at the next park (a familiar spot with limited space to run and play) – I decided to follow a road that said, “Dead End”.  And to my delightful surprise, we discovered it led to a new opportunity of parkland preserve with hiking trails leading off into the distance just waiting to be explored.  Instead of being a bust, our time of getting outside proved to be a wonderful excursion.

I have always loved Yogi Berra’s aphorisms and particularly like this one about making decisions: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
 
In a more serious vein is a familiar poem from Robert Frost that I have gone back to many times in the past.  As you re-read it, I encourage you to take a few extra seconds and read it slowly and out loud to yourself - allowing it’s deeper meaning to sink in.
 
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.
 

Whatever comes our way or whatever we discover or pursue in life – a decision is needed on our part.  That is one of the beauties and challenges of being free creatures.  Some choices are easy and others not so much.  But in the end, we usually have to live with the consequences of our decisions.  Here’s how the poet Mary Oliver (who died in 2019) framed it, 
 
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? 
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
 
Friends, let’s choose life - and in the precious time gifted to us - live it wisely and to the fullest!

Rev. Dr. David D. Young
Senior Minister