The Road Less Traveled

The Road Not Taken

By: Robert Frost

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.

The Road Less Traveled

By: Stephen Maddox

     Live the dream is a common phrase but a road less traveled. The person that impressed it on me was Lee Burns, a staff member I met at Hillsong Church while I was in Sydney, Australia. This is not a new concept or even a foreign concept but it is a great challenge.

     Are you living the dream? If not, why? Take a minute and ask yourself. Am I living the dream? If not, why?

I can’t say it definitively, but I would guess that most of the reasons you came up with are not the real reason. Those are the reasons that help you sleep better at night. You can give me every reason, excuse, fault, situation, but you are the one that is to blame. Rise above, endure, outlast, fight on, don’t give up, don’t give in, dream on. Let the past be the past, and let the present be the present.

What is “it” you’ve always wanted to do? If you aren’t doing “it”, why? I understand being realistic and the need to sustain a living, but every day should be lived to the fullest. If you aren’t doing something each day to make your dreams a reality than you wasted a day. Waste too many and it becomes a year or a lifetime.

I have read countless biographies and autobiographies of people that sacrificed it all to make a difference and live their dream. Salinger, Hemingway, King, and countless others had multiple stories and writing pieces turned down before they came to fame. They lived on nothing, some with families, until they were able to make their dreams a reality.

I’m not saying you have to quit your job and live your life in hopeless abandonment. I’m saying fight the fear and live the adventure.

Make a list of every dream you have no matter how silly or small. It helps to visualize your dream. After you have made a dream your reality cross it off and move onto the next one.

Can you imagine if people like Edison, Newton, Gates, Jobs, Franklin, Einstein, and Tesla had not lived their lives to the fullest and dreamed big dreams. This is not a heavily traveled road, but it should be.

I have not turned every dream I have into a reality, but each day I am living my dream and each day I am doing something that continues to bring my dreams to a reality. Some are outlandish and will not be done without God’s help, but I enjoy the journey. Traveling the road less traveled isn’t lonely, just a more select group. Don’t let your life be the road not taken, but the road less traveled.