One of the most memorable essays I have ever marked came from a mature student in Further Education. Given the title ‘Putting the Clock Back’, she looked at several incidents in her life in an ‘if only’ way: if only I had worked harder at school, and gained better qualifications: If only I had not rushed into a marriage which proved unhappy initially and then failed….
The American poet, Robert Frost, wrote in his poem The Road Not Taken on the subject of choices we make in life and how one of these can make such a difference. Here he describes how, in a wood, he is unsure which path to take. After much deliberation, he chose one, telling himself that, in future, he might return and take the other, although
knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
As life goes on, he realises how irrevocable that choice was:
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Life is like that. Little do we know when we make major decisions, quite where they will lead. Surely, though, as Christians, we can ask God’s guidance, in the words of the psalmist:
Lead me to do your will:
Make your way plain for me to follow
Or pray with Lancelot Andrewes:
Open my eyes that I may see,
Incline my heart that I may desire,
Order my steps that I may follow
The way of your commandments. Amen.
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