poetry – Page 29 – Sugar And Spice… Among Other Things

Which Road is Yours to Take ?

Posted on September 13, 2018September 7, 2018 by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

“Crossroads” is something that we all really want to avoid. And here, I am not talking about the 1986 or 2002 movie or the novels or the music albums; but about the practicality that we have all faced at some point of time.

The inner clash lies in which path to take: the one worn out or the one less traveled by or whether we need to forge a new path. As Mary Buchan said, “ Life presents us with moments of decision—crossroads where we either choose a new direction and move on, or cling to what we already have and be miserable.”

The million dollar question is : how do we move on ? The past will remind us of what had happened or had been, but who are we really now ? What have we decided to do or become? Make this powerful choice consciously, carefully and then envision yourself living your own dream. Then finally act upon your decision and go ahead.

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 Not Taken by Robert Frost

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Family and Society, Personal Musings, poetry

To Mend the wall or Not to ?!

Posted on September 10, 2018September 9, 2018 by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

Last night we had a rainstorm and the outcome, an old section of the wall fencing the backside of our fields had come down. Interestingly, it was pointed out to us by the neighbours as their Alsatian had tried to jump over the rubble.

On seeing the mess left behind, what came forefront to my mind were two things: first the amount of work to repair it and second, do we really need to keep a wall or instead make do with a fence. Oh yes, there are differences between both, primarily that a wall is completely solid and secondly, it is a more tedious task rebuilding one.

This little incident brought my thoughts to Robert Frost, “Mending Wall” and the following conversation was running in my mind.

“Do we need walls ? Oh yes, especially for the farms and fields,we need them. Not in the suburbs though, too much of a hassle. Trouble can always jump over a wall !!

“And the metaphorical walls ? The walls surrounding our heart and our mind, what about them ? The hearts need walls to protect us from the sorrows but the mind, we miss out on life we are stuck behind the mental walls.

“And the spiritual walls ? There can be no walls in our relationship with the Lord, for He knows all.

This begs the question of whether the walls were built to keep good neighbours or keep us walled in ? And here I am speaking of metaphorical walls. If it was the latter, the purpose is for what. Do we need boundaries for our homes and hearts to protect us or to keep us from experiencing the world ?

Robert Frost had written about “mending walls” and the realities surrounding it. I had read his piece in my high school classes. This time I tried reading it again and a whole lot of different perspectives were brought to light.

The certainty that we do need them in certain facets and the reality of what we may be missing if we lived a life without walls. The hard truth lies in where we erect them: surrounding us or within us and why do we need them: to protect or to hide.

“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,

That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,

And spills the upper boulders in the sun;

And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

The work of hunters is another thing:

I have come after them and made repair

Where they have left not one stone on a stone,

But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,

To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,

No one has seen them made or heard them made,

But at spring mending-time we find them there.

I let my neighbour know beyond the hill;

And on a day we meet to walk the line

And set the wall between us once again.

We keep the wall between us as we go.

To each the boulders that have fallen to each.

And some are loaves and some so nearly balls

We have to use a spell to make them balance:

“Stay where you are until our backs are turned!”

We wear our fingers rough with handling them.

Oh, just another kind of out-door game,

One on a side. It comes to little more:

There where it is we do not need the wall:

He is all pine and I am apple orchard.

My apple trees will never get across

And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.

He only says, “Good fences make good neighbours.”

Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder

If I could put a notion in his head:

“Why do they make good neighbours? Isn’t it

Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.

Before I built a wall I’d ask to know

What I was walling in or walling out,

And to whom I was like to give offence.

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,

That wants it down.” I could say “Elves” to him,

But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather

He said it for himself. I see him there

Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top

In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.

He moves in darkness as it seems to me,

Not of woods only and the shade of trees.

He will not go behind his father’s saying,

And he likes having thought of it so well

He says again, “Good fences make good neighbours.”

– Mending Wall byRobert Frost

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Christian, Personal Musings, poetry, Stories Around the World

God’s Rosebud

Posted on September 9, 2018September 5, 2018 by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

How many times in our life do we try to anticipate every situation, every event and every hour ? Very few of us are willing to entrust our waking minutes in His Hands. What we really need to do is to let go and let God unfold your life. For His shoulders can bear all our burdens.

This is a great story that I got through a Whats app forward. I don’t who is the author but I find it worth sharing; for it had made my day brighter and I hope it would make your day too.

A new minister was walking with an older, more seasoned minister in the garden one day. Feeling a bit insecure about what God had for him to do, he was asking the older preacher for some advice. The older preacher walked up to a rosebush and handed the young preacher a rosebud and told him to open it without tearing off any petals. The young preacher looked in disbelief at the older preacher and was trying to figure out what a rosebud could possibly have to do with his wanting to know the will of God for his life and ministry. But, because of his great respect for the older preacher, he proceeded to try to unfold the rose, while keeping every petal intact. It wasn’t long before he realized how impossible this was to do. Noticing the younger preacher’s inability to unfold the rosebud without tearing it, the older preacher began to recite the following poem…

“It is only a tiny rosebud,
A flower of God’s design;
But, I cannot unfold the petals
With these clumsy hands of mine.”

“The secret of unfolding flowers
Is not known to such as I.
GOD opens this flower so easily,
But, in my hands they die.”

“If I cannot unfold a rosebud,
This flower of God’s design,
Then, how can I have the wisdom
To unfold this life of mine?”

“So, I’ll trust in God for leading
Each moment of my day.
I will look to God for guidance
In each step along the way.”

“The path that lies before me,
Only my Lord and Savior knows.
I’ll trust God to unfold the moments,
Just as He unfolds the rose.”

“Do not be anxious about anything, but always in prayer and petition with thanksgiving, open your wishes to God …” (Epistle to Philippians 4: 6)

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Personal Musings, poetry, Random Thoughts, Stories Around the World

“The Ancyent Marinere” taught us…

Posted on September 1, 2018August 31, 2018 by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou wedding-guest!
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.

He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.”

- From "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1772-1834