Cathey, as I was reading the poem and your message after I was thinking this is so me right now. I was just talking with a friend last week about being uninspired lately and uncertainty of where I am walking on my current path. All the other roads I have been on in my life have led me to where I am today. Yes, my life may have been different if I had chosen a couple of other roads along the way, the blessings may have been different too, but I’m happy with the roads I did choose as they have filled my life with so many wonderful blessings! The current road is the one where I have been thinking more about the what if’s, and where to’s....over the weekend I have noticed more signs guiding me, your blog today is one of them. My faith tells me I am heading down the right road...for now. I’m glad our roads have crossed, as your writings have inspired me...thank you!
This is so great, Linda. I think we just have to keep remembering to look for God's guidance, but even then, sometimes I feel He says it's ok to pick either path and leaves it up to us. It's not good to live in regret, and like you, I just mostly look ahead and not back. But even in our "sunset years" I think we still have options and choices and are seldom "stuck". I am delighted that our paths crossed as well. Our friendship blesses me!
This poem you have featured is one of my favourite that Robert Frost has written. Thinking about my life I’m so happy and content with the road I chose. I’m so happy with the life I have the last 35 years together with my soulmate. I wouldn’t change anything!! Thank you Cathey for another great piece of writing!!
Thank you for sharing that, Irene. That kind of contentment is such a valuable tool for feeling satisfaction in our lives. I feel as you do - so blessed and no regrets! 💕
The fact that your road intersected with mine I’m so thankful. Life’s choices have multiple forks in them. No matter your choice God would have been with you moving the stumbling blocks out of your way unless He needed to use one to help in His guidance. We look for peace within and if we find it we can walk away from the what if’s and toward our goals of making God our Father proud.
I'm so grateful for all the friendships that I have been blessed by throughout my life, including yours! Choices are always best with God as the guide but even the ones I have made in haste I feel He has been beside me. 🙏❤️
Cathey, I’ve felt a little uninspired myself lately. Wonder if there’s something in the air? In my case, I think a bit of it is on me. However, the songwriting has picked up a bit. I’ve taken roads where impulsive decisions were made. I’ve also made them through God’s guidance. As I’ve gotten older and grown in my faith, I tend to be more careful and focused on God’s will and not my own. But again that independent and prideful side comes out and then God points out not your will but mine, Anne. All that said, God’s timing usually wins out and it’s teaching me patience and to be more vulnerable. When that happens, almost always God reveals what he would have me write and share. We’re all on different paths, but one thing for certain, if I hadn’t listened to God a year ago about joining this community, none of this would have happened. God knew what was always there for any of us. We just have to be open to receiving and taking that leap of faith and choose wisely. Thank you for sharing Cathey!
Thanks for this candid comment and for sharing a bit of your recent story. I so agree with you that this community that many of us are a part of encourages us in the decision making process. I always had a hard time letting go of the security of the familiar and trusting God with the unknown. That's all different now for me and I am sure you feel that, too! So here's to next steps with God at the helm!
Oh boy! This tugs at me. I made a truly life altering decision on which path I took. Unfortunately, I chose it due to PTSD. This is difficult for me, but I lost out on love, marriage and children. I will never know these things and it haunts me at times. As I get older, I see the empty road ahead. The lonely life with no purpose. It's a frightening thought.
Look forward, my friend, and not back. You have no idea what could be in store for you if you stay open. I can't tell you there will never be lonliness, but you also don't know who or what could be around the next corner if you don't let fear rule your heart. Stay open and don't convince yourself that the future looks any certain way!
I love reading his poems, when my parents told me marrying Ralph that it will be a lifetime commitment. I didn’t realize that until I got sick how committed he was towards my being and married this amazing man for 43 years . I am very grateful and blessed I cross paths with you along with few others .
I'm nearly 77years old, so there are countless paths I took or could have taken. The best one was when I joined a Christian group called Kairos that operates in prisons. I spent 11 joyful years participating and leading in that group at a women's max. prison, as well as leading a discussion group on Boundaries and serving as a lay chaplain. I have precious memories, and I learned so much.
Thank you Cathey for this insightful piece of writing. It always seems that yours and others pieces come at just the right time. There are days when I too wonder about the other fork, the what ifs, and then come back to reality and realize that the Universe guided me down the path I needed to take. Blessings and thank you again.
I'm so glad this came at the right time for you! For me, it's a curiosity about what would have been different in my life if I had chosen a different route, but I don't dwell or regret. I think we just have to realize that it's never to late to choose something different. Thank you, Barbara!
I agree Cathey there was a lot to learn along the way. Most of my thoughts went to the fact that my husband and I never took the easy route. It made for a very varied life.
That's an interesting question and actually quite affirming as I think about it. In looking back at those important crossroads, I consciously chose and continue to choose the road less traveled. There are no regrets - at least about the big choices. Some decisions were intuitive - I just knew in my heart. - they were right. Others were more calculated - I talked with others, read, and researched the options. Certainly if I had chosen the other fork along the way my life would have been different. I wouldn't have moved to California, had a 60 year marriage and a family, or become a psychologist. All choices that brought meaning and purpose to my life,
Thanks so much for sharing this, Janice. Mostly now I just look back at some of the choices and can't imagine what my life would be like if I hadn't made them. I'm not sure if we get better at choosing paths over time, but each choice surely teaches us something.
There have been a lot of “what Ifs” in my life but I’m happy and content with the paths taken. Some were easier than others but that’s life. Thanks for making me reminisce on some good times! Appreciate you Cathey🙏🏻
I'm glad I could take you on a trip down memory lane, Rita! I feel content as well though there are some things I wouldn't care to relive, they were not my choices. But no use staying in the past. All those things teach us along the way, don't they?
I, too, love Robert Frost’s poem. And thank you for your writings regarding decisions we all seem to make in our lives..Very nice way to begin a Monday morning…
I feel the same, Deloris. God has been guiding all along my path. There were times I did not listen, but He carried my anyway or let me learn something. No regrets for me either.
You're right - most of the time we don't have the option to go back and choose the other path and for me, I don't think it's helpful to wish you could. But I also think it's never to late to choose a different path for ourselves. I do like the idea of taking "the road less traveled" - not always picking the easiest, most obvious or most popular. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Cathey, as I was reading the poem and your message after I was thinking this is so me right now. I was just talking with a friend last week about being uninspired lately and uncertainty of where I am walking on my current path. All the other roads I have been on in my life have led me to where I am today. Yes, my life may have been different if I had chosen a couple of other roads along the way, the blessings may have been different too, but I’m happy with the roads I did choose as they have filled my life with so many wonderful blessings! The current road is the one where I have been thinking more about the what if’s, and where to’s....over the weekend I have noticed more signs guiding me, your blog today is one of them. My faith tells me I am heading down the right road...for now. I’m glad our roads have crossed, as your writings have inspired me...thank you!
This is so great, Linda. I think we just have to keep remembering to look for God's guidance, but even then, sometimes I feel He says it's ok to pick either path and leaves it up to us. It's not good to live in regret, and like you, I just mostly look ahead and not back. But even in our "sunset years" I think we still have options and choices and are seldom "stuck". I am delighted that our paths crossed as well. Our friendship blesses me!
This poem you have featured is one of my favourite that Robert Frost has written. Thinking about my life I’m so happy and content with the road I chose. I’m so happy with the life I have the last 35 years together with my soulmate. I wouldn’t change anything!! Thank you Cathey for another great piece of writing!!
Thank you for sharing that, Irene. That kind of contentment is such a valuable tool for feeling satisfaction in our lives. I feel as you do - so blessed and no regrets! 💕
The fact that your road intersected with mine I’m so thankful. Life’s choices have multiple forks in them. No matter your choice God would have been with you moving the stumbling blocks out of your way unless He needed to use one to help in His guidance. We look for peace within and if we find it we can walk away from the what if’s and toward our goals of making God our Father proud.
I'm so grateful for all the friendships that I have been blessed by throughout my life, including yours! Choices are always best with God as the guide but even the ones I have made in haste I feel He has been beside me. 🙏❤️
There is no doubt He has.
Cathey, I’ve felt a little uninspired myself lately. Wonder if there’s something in the air? In my case, I think a bit of it is on me. However, the songwriting has picked up a bit. I’ve taken roads where impulsive decisions were made. I’ve also made them through God’s guidance. As I’ve gotten older and grown in my faith, I tend to be more careful and focused on God’s will and not my own. But again that independent and prideful side comes out and then God points out not your will but mine, Anne. All that said, God’s timing usually wins out and it’s teaching me patience and to be more vulnerable. When that happens, almost always God reveals what he would have me write and share. We’re all on different paths, but one thing for certain, if I hadn’t listened to God a year ago about joining this community, none of this would have happened. God knew what was always there for any of us. We just have to be open to receiving and taking that leap of faith and choose wisely. Thank you for sharing Cathey!
Thanks for this candid comment and for sharing a bit of your recent story. I so agree with you that this community that many of us are a part of encourages us in the decision making process. I always had a hard time letting go of the security of the familiar and trusting God with the unknown. That's all different now for me and I am sure you feel that, too! So here's to next steps with God at the helm!
Amen sister! Let’s go! 🙏❤️
Oh boy! This tugs at me. I made a truly life altering decision on which path I took. Unfortunately, I chose it due to PTSD. This is difficult for me, but I lost out on love, marriage and children. I will never know these things and it haunts me at times. As I get older, I see the empty road ahead. The lonely life with no purpose. It's a frightening thought.
Look forward, my friend, and not back. You have no idea what could be in store for you if you stay open. I can't tell you there will never be lonliness, but you also don't know who or what could be around the next corner if you don't let fear rule your heart. Stay open and don't convince yourself that the future looks any certain way!
I love reading his poems, when my parents told me marrying Ralph that it will be a lifetime commitment. I didn’t realize that until I got sick how committed he was towards my being and married this amazing man for 43 years . I am very grateful and blessed I cross paths with you along with few others .
You are blessed that you and Ralph crossed paths and that now we have! 💕🤗
I'm nearly 77years old, so there are countless paths I took or could have taken. The best one was when I joined a Christian group called Kairos that operates in prisons. I spent 11 joyful years participating and leading in that group at a women's max. prison, as well as leading a discussion group on Boundaries and serving as a lay chaplain. I have precious memories, and I learned so much.
What a wonderful and impactful ministry! That was a choice that I'm sure you treasure, PD!
Thank you Cathey for this insightful piece of writing. It always seems that yours and others pieces come at just the right time. There are days when I too wonder about the other fork, the what ifs, and then come back to reality and realize that the Universe guided me down the path I needed to take. Blessings and thank you again.
I'm so glad this came at the right time for you! For me, it's a curiosity about what would have been different in my life if I had chosen a different route, but I don't dwell or regret. I think we just have to realize that it's never to late to choose something different. Thank you, Barbara!
I agree Cathey there was a lot to learn along the way. Most of my thoughts went to the fact that my husband and I never took the easy route. It made for a very varied life.
I wouldn’t change it even with many challenges!🙏🏻
Those lessons from challenges end up being very helpful in learning to navigate all the ups and downs of life.
That's an interesting question and actually quite affirming as I think about it. In looking back at those important crossroads, I consciously chose and continue to choose the road less traveled. There are no regrets - at least about the big choices. Some decisions were intuitive - I just knew in my heart. - they were right. Others were more calculated - I talked with others, read, and researched the options. Certainly if I had chosen the other fork along the way my life would have been different. I wouldn't have moved to California, had a 60 year marriage and a family, or become a psychologist. All choices that brought meaning and purpose to my life,
Thanks so much for sharing this, Janice. Mostly now I just look back at some of the choices and can't imagine what my life would be like if I hadn't made them. I'm not sure if we get better at choosing paths over time, but each choice surely teaches us something.
They surely do.
There have been a lot of “what Ifs” in my life but I’m happy and content with the paths taken. Some were easier than others but that’s life. Thanks for making me reminisce on some good times! Appreciate you Cathey🙏🏻
I'm glad I could take you on a trip down memory lane, Rita! I feel content as well though there are some things I wouldn't care to relive, they were not my choices. But no use staying in the past. All those things teach us along the way, don't they?
I, too, love Robert Frost’s poem. And thank you for your writings regarding decisions we all seem to make in our lives..Very nice way to begin a Monday morning…
Thanks for reading along, Jan, and I'm so glad you enjoyed this piece! One of Frost's best, I believe!
I feel the same, Deloris. God has been guiding all along my path. There were times I did not listen, but He carried my anyway or let me learn something. No regrets for me either.
You're right - most of the time we don't have the option to go back and choose the other path and for me, I don't think it's helpful to wish you could. But I also think it's never to late to choose a different path for ourselves. I do like the idea of taking "the road less traveled" - not always picking the easiest, most obvious or most popular. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!