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 marked 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.

don't ask me how this is relevant. then again, do we need any excuse to quote Frost? indeed i love this man.

i've been catholic for a day, sort of.

i know it sounds bad and horribly shallow compared to everyone else gushing about the family of God but for now the one thing that excites me the most is communion. i get to go up and take that crispy white thing from the priest. God knows why it excites me but since young [and i didn't even go to church regularly then. only once a year] i've always wanted to do it.

i suppose i must say something as such events call for things to be said, but all words have left me. all i can say was that mass and dinner were great and that i felt happy. plain and simple : happy. no need for fancy words of candyfloss fun and life-changing experiences [indeed this is one, though], i am, to put it simply, very happy.

my brothers also find it incredibly amusing that my birthday falls one day after the sept 11 attacks and my baptism was a day before saddam was allegedly caught.

anyhow. people often asked me, 'why do you have to get baptised? isn't it just some sort of superficial gimmick? isn't it enough to just accept God in your heart?' and i used to wonder why too. there was a part of me which knew i had to get baptised, but i also wondered why. and i have come up with my own personal theory. i realize that it is not really the baptism itself and the pouring of water that means you have truly accepted Christ - it is the journey made towards it. how does one demonstrate love? through faith, sacrifice and countless other things. i sacrificed my time to go for RCIY and i had faith in what they were teaching so i continued. that's putting it extremely simply. in essence, the fact that we have made this journey towards baptism shows our love and willingness to become a child of God - it reaffirms our faith and strengthens us. for how does one know that a wall will stand strong without pushing it first? because, like it or not, the simple pouring of holy water means a lot to us. we make a big deal out of it [and we should], and it is hard, in itself to actually be courageous enough to say, 'yes, i want to go up there and be baptized' and this is already excluding RCIY, because it is always so hard to say things and be 100% sure that you mean it; whether at that time or after. it is proof to yourself of the small steps you are willing to take towards God. so i think that baptism isn't proof for others, but it is proof to yourself and to God. again you ask why, but it is human nature, we constantly need reassurance, don't we? we are not perfect, we still have our doubts.

and by choosing to embark on the journey of baptism and making it to baptism, i acknowledge that i really do believe in God and all his teachings because i will never forget the things He placed along the winding paths that helped me to make my final choice.

+ posted by M @ 1:04 AM