The Fork in the Road......

Ever wonder how many forks in the road there are in life as you travel along? 

The one where you decide if you should keep crawling or take that scary first step away from the hand that holds you tight.  The one where you again let go of that same hand and march proudly into school for the first day, even though you don't know everything you think you should know. How about when you go to church camp that first night in the dark, surrounded with all your friends you wish for that same moonbeam that streams through your window at home to shine it's light and keep you safe. Before you know it your are off to middle school where you become a kindergartener all over again, the bottom of the heap and once again your first day you find comfort in coming home to baked cookies and a glass of milk on the table. Then you are soon in high, you get through your freshman year, how many times does one person have to go through kindergarten anyway?  You press on to your sophomore year and find you want to break away from those hands that held you more and more everyday, to find a sense of freedom that you think only you has ever experienced.
 
By now you have so many forks you think you are ready to have your own dinner party as you have enough forks to serve all who will walk along your path.   Instead of reaching for a hand you start to become the outstretched hand and extend it to others.  You have friends with less than you, be it fortune, parents, talent or faith.

 By reaching out your hand you risk being vulnerable, but without taking a risk you might as well take the other fork in the road, put a shell on your back and live like a snail, crawling along at a slow pace, protected from all the elements of the world and never learn how to say.....

Thank you world for accepting me for who I am, for those of you who took me along your on journey until you thought I was strong enough to walk my own journey and showing me which path was the lighted path to travel.  The one on which each step formed respect both self and for others, confidence and the knowledge to know right from wrong.

Each one of us could have been born at the fork in the road where it lead to drugs, alchohol and violence could have faced us at every turn, where the path became darker and darker as we thought things should only go our way, where people never outstretched a hand just before we had a swamp to cross. 

If you know someone on that path, extend your hand, shine a light to allow them to see there are two forks in the road the one they chose and one they can choose...they and you can make a difference, it might not be the easiest thing to do, could become the least rewarding at the moment because it's always easier to take the path we can see the end, but if you're willing to step out of your comfort zone, I'm willing to bet someone will walk the right path with you....and if you see only one set of foot prints at the end of your journey, don't despair, "it was then that I carried you."