And that has made all the difference

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.

--Robert Frost

This post began as thoughts on the recent snowfall here, compared with the tornadoes in my hometown. But as I was thinking today, I realized that there are far more important differences that begin with a simple choice.

I love "The Road Not Taken". Something about it speaks so clearly to me, and has since I was in junior high. Every choice is like a path. You cannot take both. We can walk our own path, or we can follow after God. Maybe our retelling with a sigh can be a sigh, not of sadness or regret, but of thankfulness and joy.

I have made some choices that some thought didn't make a lot of sense, but have truly made all the difference in the end. Joining band was a "random" choice, but it was so good for me emotionally and spiritually. Going to China twice, not a financially prudent choice, but a life-altering one. Even if only looked at from a purely secular standpoint, I have had the chance to change the opinions and stereotypes of 130 junior highers about China. I can awe young children into listening to me because I've been out the United States. But in the end, I had the priveledge of seeing one of my friends come to Christ. THAT has made all the difference in this world and the next.