Dear Friends,

Odd combination of influences this week, both arising as I contemplate Psalm 1 (which is the text for Sunday).

First, I’ve been thinking about Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken. The poem’s ostensibly about the choice of path through the woods - the fork to the left? or the fork to the right? Until I looked up the poem this morning, I hadn’t realized that Frost wrote it to pick at a friend who was apparently rather indecisive. Hmm: The Road Not Taken was meant as a joke. (You can click on “View Poem Guide” on the poem’s page linked above if you want to read more interpretation.) With that minimal introduction, I guess I’ve read the poem’s ending - I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference - incorrectly all these years! If that punch line’s supposed to be read with a wink, maybe the whole poem’s meant to say, “For goodness gracious, just pick a blinking path! We can walk the other one tomorrow.” I didn’t read the whole “Poem Guide,” but it might well say that, when two roads diverge in a yellow wood, either one will suffice. Perhaps there’ll be a waterfall in one direction or a meadow in the other, either way, what a great view! It’s a less-than-consequential choice and you can have a perfectly good life either way. So, make a choice and get on with life.

I dunno. Clearly, nobody’s likely to hire me to interpret poetry! (Well, except for Psalms, maybe.)

Second, and in the off chance that you haven’t heard it, lemme share a parable commonly attributed to the Indigenous peoples of North America:

An Elder speaks: "Two wolves live inside each of us – a good wolf and a bad wolf.

The good wolf is kind and compassionate. The bad wolf is warlike and destructive.

Throughout our lives these two wolves inside us are always at war."

The Elder stops the story, and a young person asks, "Which wolf wins?"

The Elder replies, "The one you feed."

I’ve heard that parable many times before; I found this particular telling on a rather interesting website for The Good Wolf Project. Choosing which wolf to feed is a rather more crucial choice than “left path or right path” isn’t it?

Psalm 1 begins this way:

Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
or sit in the seat of scoffers;
but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law they meditate day and night.

They are like trees planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.

What’s on your menu? And down which path does that nourishment take you?

See you Sunday!

Peace,

Lisa

Photo credit: Frida Lannerstrom on Unsplash.